A Technique and a Sketch!

Have you seen this fun technique Jennifer McGuire posted on Wednesday? While I don't have an overly good track record with techniques, this one, with white pigment ink and coloured pencils, seemed worth trying. I've been reviewing my stash of Unity stamps to get ready for my Growing in Unity week next month (!), and found a stamp in one of my grab bags that I thought might work. 

I ended up with a card totally outside my usual box! The daisy-type blooms seemed to dictate more of a yellow/orange palette than my usual reds and blues. It also has a little more going on than my usual style. I think I like it, although now I need to put it away for a day so I can look at it more objectively. (What do you think?)
My layout is (loosely) based on the current Unity {be inspired} Challenge and of course I'm joining in with the Friends with Flair fun! Speaking of, hope you have a fun weekend planned! 

Supplies: white & dark green cardstock, Cosmo Cricket Clementine patterned paper, Unity stamp (from a grab bag), Colorbox frost white ink, Prismacolor pencils, Colorbok chipboard tag, May Arts (?) orange grosgrain ribbon, Maya Road vintage green pearl pins, pop-dot tape, corner-rounding punch

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More Paper Smooches

I'm back with a second card I'm entering in the current Paper Smooches guest designer search for March:

I'm generally pretty modest (bashful?) about my cards, but really, how can you not look at this one and smile? That little puppy is utterly adorable. Yes, I did purposely use the dots on the patterned paper to outline her eyes. The edge of the grass is slightly distressed for a more natural look. (Because that paper is otherwise totally grasslike.) I pieced together the sentiment from two of the originals in the same set. 
P.S. It's my week "off", but there's a fun new challenge up at Crafty Creations Challenges! You've got till Tuesday to play along. 

Supplies: white & Papertrey Ink rasberry fizz cardstock, Pink Paislee House of Three & Bella Boulevard Sunny Happy Skies patterned papers, Paper Smooches Woofers and Tweeters stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Lil' Inkers stitched sentiment flag die, Twinery pink sorbet twine, dimensionals

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SPARKS (but no flame...)

I'm playing along in the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge! It's a colour challenge this week as shown below:

I've been leafing through my Paper Crafts Card Design Handbook issue, which mostly leads to overthinking. :D I did, however use the gallon (teal)/quart (brown)/pint (cherry) tip for the colours when putting together my card.

I absolutely adore this cat image! I think in a pinch you could stamp him on a card base and call it done, he's that cute. I put a little more effort into this one, but he still really steals the show. 
Meanwhile, over at the CASology challenge blog, their cue word is "flame". This is a SPARKS card, but somehow I don't think it counts. 
Just for the fun of it, I'm going to also link this to Kim's current guest designer search, along with another card (and maybe a couple of older ones) I'll post in a few minutes. So wish me luck! Well, unless you're trying for the designer spot too, I suppose... 

Supplies: cream cardstock, My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Hattie patterned papers, Paper Smooches Nine Lives stamps, vintage photo distress & Memento teal zeal inks, clear embossing powder, hole punch, pop-dot tape

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Green Thumb

I'm playing along with the current (for another 22 hours or so) CAS(E) this Sketch challenge! Here's Lisa's sketch:

And here's my interpretation of it: 

I stayed fairly true to the sketch, I think, except for making the focal point larger. And I don't generally sew on cards, so I scored the top of the banner, instead. I really like this Papertrey Ink gardening set, and have no idea why I don't use it more often. And right now it's reminding me that I could go buy some seeds soon to get a head start on growing a few of my summer garden essentials. It's such a nice way to ignore the reality that is an Ontario February. 
I'm also linking this card up (surprise, surprise) to My Graphico's current Anything Goes challenge. 

Supplies: cream & Stampin' Up naturals ivory cardstock, Bella Blvd. All Inclusive patterned paper, Papertrey Ink garden variety stamps, Stampin' Up garden green & chocolate chip inks, Papertrey Ink garden variety dies, Spellbinders oval die, dimensionals

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Love and Hearts

Happy Valentine's Eve! Any last-minute valentines you still have to make? If so, you're in luck, as the latest Crafty Creations challenge is looking for crafts with love or hearts as their theme! This week's sponsor is Clearly Besotted Stamps. They are generously offering two terrific photopolymer stamp sets, Under the Sea and Funny Farm, to this week's winner. 
I of course still had some valentines to make. I needed a valentine suitable for a boy:

A love robot seemed perfect! And how could I not stamp him in shiny silver? The speech bubble heart is cut from a scrap of cardstock I had misted for another card. (I've decided the most successful way for me to use spray mist is to mist a large piece of cardstock then cut what I need from the best part.) 
I also wanted to send a valentine to a friend I haven't been in touch with for a while...

I do like how my blue jeans pocket turned out! The pinks come right out of the latest Pinspired challenge. I'm also throwing this into My Graphico's extended Anything Goes challenge. I thought it would be fun to join CAS on Sunday's first-ever challenge, too! 
Showing your love? Offering your heart? Link up with us this week! 

                 

Supplies: (robot) white & Recollections silver cardstock, Recollections patterned paper, Market Street Stamps Robot Love, MediaLoot speech bubble, QuicKutz heart die, pop-dot tape; (just a note) white cardstock (plus scraps for small hearts), Crate Paper Random patterned paper,Hero Arts envelope background & Pebbles Sunny Side stamps, Versamagic Aegen Blue chalk ink, Faded Jeans & Stormy Sky distress inks, Wplus9 Love Note dies 

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Tuesday Trigger and Friday Flair

Happy snowy Friday! Well, not everywhere, but certainly here in southern and central Ontario. I'd wanted to make something to link up with Unity's Friends with Flair last week... but I had nothing. All week, nothing. I looked at challenges, blogs... nothing. Finally yesterday I decided to continue the slow work of cataloging my stamps, and since it's February, thought I would do all my heart stamps. And just as I'd hoped, that started the creative brain working again! Combined with this week's Moxie Fab World trigger photo, this card resulted:

From Cath's trigger, I took the colours, the heart image and all that clean white space. Using two pinks and a teal, I made a little bokeh-style background with sponge daubers. The milk and cookies image is watercoloured and paper-pieced (the chocolate chips just didn't look right in black!). And I just had to add a little gloss to the tiny heart on the glass. Now I have two valentine cards to choose from to give to my husb next week! 
And if I get stuck without ideas again, maybe some Friends with Flair browsing will kickstart the creativity again! Have a great weekend. 

Supplies: white, teal & Stampin' Up kraft cardstock, Unity September 2011 Kit of the Month (All Seasons) stamps, Memento angel pink, rose bud & teal zeal, Memories black & vintage photo distress inks, pop-dot tape, Glossy accents

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