More fun with paper

Sometimes you just have "the perfect" paper for a thematic challenge.  I hit the jackpot this week while taking part in the Teapot Tuesday challenge, where the theme involved a cruise to a tropical island. "Bring margaritas and palm trees" the instructions read.

Well, looky here at what I found in my stash. Not one, but two papers that worked.  The "fun in the sun" paper had it all -- palm trees, margaritas and some other drinks too. I wanted to use CPS sketch 271, and I wanted to put a palm tree in the circle element. My palm tree stamp, however, is way bigger than what I wanted. While flipping through my paper stash, I found a piece that had glittery palm trees on it, and one of them fit perfectly in a nestie circle. Isn't it amazing what you find when you go digging in your stash?

I addded a little red-and-white ribbon flag where the sketch indicated a sentiment, and kept the card pretty CAS. Then I felt guilty because I had not stamped anything on the card, and added a sentiment in the lower corner (sort of an "in case you missed the message" repeat of "fun in the sun.") Sentiment is from Purple Onion Designs.

(We are going to have plenty of sun here, but with highs for the weekend forecast above 100, I think I will do all I can to avoid the sun. Stay cool.)

The paper is the star

The focal point of my cards is almost always a stamped image. I guess I just think of myself as a stamper, but I rarely highlight the paper or embellishments on a card, but rather use them to enhance the main image.  Today's card is different. It's all about the paper, which in this case is from Cosmos Cricket.

I saw this sketch from 365 Cards  (challenge 116, Sunday Sketch) and knew right away which papers to use.  The card came together very quickly, and I even had some fabulous trim to use on it.

The card is also for the current challenge at Victorine Originals (#37) which is to create a Happy Birthday or Happy Everything card.  I honestly thought I had a stamp that said "happy everything," but sadly I couldn't find it. This sentiment from Club Stamp is the same idea, however. Yes, the sentiment is intentionally at an angle, because the lines on the graph paper wouldn't have lined up properly.

Watercolor pear

Some stampers keep a file of UFOs (unused flat objects), which is where those images you stamp, maybe even color, but don't end up using, find a home for a long, long time. That's where this pear has been living for quite a while, but it worked perfectly for this layout.  The sketch is Card Patterns #170, and I am also entering this for Victorine Original's challenge #36, which has the theme of "Anything goes".
To create the pear, I scribbled on the stamp with watercolor crayons, spritzed the stamp with water, then stamped on watercolor paper. I use the word "scribble" but it wasn't random; I put the colors where I wanted them to be to give the pear the look I wanted.
As you probably know, watercolor is bright white, so when I decided to go with this paper, I sponged around the pear with Versacolor "Bamboo" ink to tone it down. (I sponged a white Prima with the same ink to create the matching flower).
The papers are all from a K&Co. stack called Bungalow.
Other supplies: Jeweled brad, ribbon, piercing tools, birthday sentiment.
Truth be told, this is a lot more color than I usually work into one card, and it's a little scary for me to use that much color.  I do like how it came out -- hope you do too.

Not too girly, I hope

When I first tried this card, I used the biggest circle nesties I have for the half circles, but they weren't nearly big enough. I ended up going old school -- tracing circular objects and cutting them by hand.  I figured the scallop scissors would disguise the less-than-perfect cuts.
The sketch here is Card Patterns Sketch #168.  The card is also for There's Magic In the Air's three in a row challenge -- the blog posted a 3-by-3 grid with each square containing a different element; we have to pick three in any tic-tac-toe-style line. My line is lace, flowers and brads.  ( I assume the flowers in the image count!)
The details:
Stamp:  Hero Arts
Ink:  Chestnut Roan chalk
Patterned Paper:  Stampin' Up.
Lace and brads, unknown.

Flowers, flowers everywhere

     How many floral images do you have? I have no clue how many I have, I just know I am drawn to them and have to remind myself that I have plenty of flower stamps when I see another I like. I also like floral printer paper and flower embellishments, so the Victorine Originals challenge #33, with the theme of '"flowers" seems like it was made for me.
      I started with floral paper for the base card. For the central image, I inked up the flower with Colorbox Chalk ink called Cadmium Yellow and stamped it off once on scrap paper before stamping it, so I got a lighter image. I overstamped with the sentiment in black Memento ink and sponged the edges around it with a greenish color called Bamboo. All the papers are from a Making Memories stack called Sydney.
     For the embellishment, I used  two layers of gauzy flowers under the paper flower both to make it fluffier and so the green of the gauze would be evident.  They are attached with a mini brad.

Frog on Vespa

      My brother's birthday is coming up. As I've said before, it's hard for me to do "guy" cards. Since my brother and I share a similar sense of humor, I decided to go with this fun image from Paper Cupcakes. How can a frog on a Vespa not strike you as funny?
      Frog is colored with pencils and OMS. I used a silver gel pen for the "metal" on the handlebar and hubcabs. I also gave the Vespa a coat of spica pen to give it a sparkly, clear-coat look. (I had a car with metallic blue paint once. It was about that sparkly when it was new.) That's as far as embellishments go for this "guy" card.
      The tickets are also from Paper Cupcakes; I chose a bunch of "have fun" sentiments and left the birthday greetings for inside the card..
      The sketch for this is the current sketch for Card Positioning Systems, CPS 264.

Masculine birthday card

There are lots of birthdays coming up in my family, so this card will go to one of the guys celebrating. I used this week's sketch from the Card Positioning System Blog, CPS262.
The tiger (from Raindrops on Roses) is stamped in Colorbox Chalk chestnut roan ink; I did an out-of-the-box cut and cut it with an oval nestie.  The sentiment is computer generated, and I didn't realize at the time that the font I chose doesn't line up on the bottom of the letters. That probably doesn't bother most people, but I've spent a fair share of my working life making sure type lines up (among many other picky details, of course), and it does bother me.
Papers are all from a ridiculously old pack from DCWV, which until I made this card had been used exactly once.  I must use up old supplies!
The embellishment is baker's twine strung through a spacer bead that sort of vaguely looks African. It's so hard coming up with good embellishments on masculine cards. What sort of embellies do you use on a card for a guy?