Witchy Halloween Card

 This adorable image is called Witchy Emma from ScrapN Dipity designs. The paper strips are all from my scraps!




I colored her with my Copic Markers, adding a little bit of yellow Wink of Stella  as accent on her hair.  I used some Yellow Stickles on her wand. Then flicked some black ink so that it didn't look quite so stark.










The inside is stamped with an ornate sentiment from Michaels' Dollar Bin last season, using Memento Black, since I didn't plan to emboss it.






Thanks for stopping by and please head over to the ScrapNDipity Challenge Blog to see what the other designers created for the October 15th challenge!

Enchanted Wishes from the Deep

Today is Sketch #484 on the Sketch Saturday Challenge blog which is similar to a previous sketch, in that it has 3 circles. For the previous sketch I made the mistake of feeling like I needed to make sure the circles were incorporated in my design. This time, I allowed the stamp-images to represent the circles in the sketch, and I like the result ever so much better!

I purchased two new "hot" items for this design and want to give a short review of each as well.

1) Distress Oxide inks: 5 stars! I used these for the background to make the water. They were vibrant and easy to blend--as advertised! I think adding the water sprinkles really added to the effect.  I used Cracked China over the whole back ground, then Salty Ocean for a small strip on the left, and the majority of the right--thus creating a lighter area near the left to represent the strip in the sketch, and to look like a ray of sun filtering through the water.

2) Claritystamp Brushes: 3 stars. I had a hard time getting these to do more than a VERY subtle background. For this project I ended up using my foam blenders instead. I did use the Clarity Brushes for another project--a simple masked hill and sky scene, and they worked fairly well for that, as I DID what the sky to be subtle. But they still left brush marks more than I had expected. They just aren't the "magic blending tool" that I felt people were saying they were. Still good, but definitely not great--I think I'm going to try the Nuvo brushes as they look like they might be more useful to me with their more snub-ends. They currently seem to be sold out EVERYWHERE, but I'll let you know what I think once I can get my hands on them!


These adorable images are from Drawn with Character. The Baby Mermaid set comes with both a boy and a girl, which is so fun!

And the Baby Sea Creatures set comes with 6 super-cute little animals plus some bubbles.  I had a really hard time choosing which creatures to use for this!!






I printed all my images on Paper Studios Heavy Weight card stock. This paper is thicker than their standard card stock but not as thick as the Michael's HW--which doesn't like to process through my printer.



 I also like this weight for my card bases, as it again is thick, but not too much so. I chose to just print a bunch of the images randomly on a page and practice coloring, then fussy cut the ones that I liked the best. These were all colored with Copics and highlighted with some Wink of Stella. I glued the cut images to the background using Ranger Multi-Medium Matte.

The sentiment is from LLDS "Vintage Sentiments"; stamped with a white ink and heat embossed with a Pearl embossing powder.

To finish off the card, I added a few drops of Accent Essentials to look like bubbles. I did leave the inside of the card blank so I can add a sentiment later that is specific for the recipient.

Thanks for visiting and as always, don't forget to go over to Sketch Saturday and see what the other DT Girls came up with!!

Over the Moon for You!

Today, I'm playing along with the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge again. As soon as I saw this design, I knew I wanted to use it and that I wanted to make the circle a "moon" of some sort! 

 I did make the circle much smaller than in the image, and my line across the back is very subtle--just a lighter shade in the Universe background. And obviously I did not include the center rectangle.





The images are colored with Copics, then fussy cut. I loved the look of the white gel-pen accents on the helmet to make it look like it was glass!












The fun thing about this card: The Astronaut moves!

He has just a little bit of movement all around. I saw this technique in a Jennifer McGuire  YouTube video--thank you Jennifer McGuire!







I tethered the astronaut to his space-ship with a piece of white crochet thread. This keeps him from flipping around TOO much!








My design only loosely follows the sketch, but I was definitely INSPIRED by the Sketch! I hope that counts! LOL Thanks so much for visiting, and I would love to hear from you!

Magical Birthday Flyby

I'm playing along with the Sketch Challenge over at My Favorite Things. I'm not 100% pleased with the end result--I was hoping that my new Claritystamp Brushes would arrive in time to remake it, but they did not, so I'm going with what I have! 



I had these 2 dragons stamped for a while and just hadn't gotten around to coloring and using them. This seemed like the perfect time!  I colored them with my Copics, then added Wink of Stella to the wings.












 My Brother Scan N Cut is still packed, so I actually fussy cut them both out. The purple one, I attached with Matte Medium, and the flying green dragon with foam tape.  I found the little flowers in a Stampin Up set and like the way they just add a little more color and interest.



The sky was inked with a Stampabilities Pigment ink cube and a sponge blender--this is where I think the brushes would have done a much better job! The green was blended with an older Stampin Up ink of Green Galore, and also blended with a sponge. For the hill I used post-it tape--it's my favorite thing to mask with!

The sentiment is from a Docraft Birthday collection which has a bunch of sentiments that I find very useful!

Thanks for visiting!!

Harvest Greetings

It's still very warm here in Missouri, but the yard is already full of crunchy leaves and mornings are ALMOST cool enough for a light sweater, so I'm getting in the mood for AUTUMN!

I had a great time coloring this bright, bold image with the fall colors. I think it's one of my favorite colored images so far--the colors are just look so vibrant, and I'm very pleased with the shading I was able to accomplish.

I followed this great sketch over at Sketch Saturday Challenge Blog, and I think it worked perfectly for this image from Fred She Said. I did go with a circle rather than square as in the original design--with the round pumpkins, and round flowers, both in the image and on the background DSP, (from a paper pad from Paper Studios, BTW) a circle just seemed more appropriate.







 

While I love both my Cricut and my Scan N Cut, I am completely addicted to using shape-dies for cutting things out, especially using stitches or scallops! This time, I felt that stitches might get lost, so I just used the open scallop circle die for the matting of the image. The image is attached with foam tape for dimension and to give enough room behind for the crossing of the ribbons.

 

The rough almost burlap ribbon also just seemed "right" for this season and this image! However, the bow just didn't seem like it was quite enough, so I tied some thick thread around the ribbon behind the bow and let the ends hang out--this felt like it completed the card!











I wanted to keep the interior message simple and not overly seasonal specific, so I chose this one from Paper Smooches which reads "sending warmth & happiness". I stamped this using Versafine Vintage Sepia.


While this isn't he most exciting card ever, I really like the way it turned out! It feels vibrant and warm to me!  Thanks for stopping by and of course, I hope to see you over at Sketch Saturday, as well!

Owl Always Be Here for You--First Day of School

This is my son's first year of school! He went of the Kindergarten the other day, and as is so common, I'm pretty sure it was harder on me than it was on him!

With his reading abilities expanding, he's started getting a kick out of puns and such, so I made this cute simple card for him for the First Day of School, and tucked it into his backpack for him to find when he got to school.

 This cute Mommy and Me Owl are from ScrapN Dipity Designs. One of the things I like about using digital stamps is that you can print them at whatever size works best for your purpose. Never too big or too little!

 I colored the image with Copics, added Wink of Stella to the bellies, then fussy cut (since my SNC is still packed up). The base was sponged with Stampin Up inks, using Post-it tape to mask the ground/sky border. This was still too plain, so I went searching through my stamps and found some random little flower stamps, and drew in the stems, as well as the grass.

 
The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp set that I was recently gifted and seemed perfect to get a chuckle out of my silly little boy. The sentiment was actually in one line, but I cut it to be two; it was stamped with Versafine Black and heat embossed with clear powder.






   Since I wanted this to be a very specific card, I printed the interior message on my computer, using the Hobby Lobby Heavy Weight white card stock. (I find this is to lighter than the Recollections Heavy, and perfect for card bases).







Unfortunately, I did have a little problem with my Multi-Media Matte glue, and ended up with some blotches on the card base. I was so frustrated. But I knew it was for a child, and I was running out of time! So I added a few sequins to cover the worst of the blotches, and went with it. :-) Thank you for checking it out, and please visit the Sketch Saturday Blog as well!

Scent with Love Cheerful Greetings

 

The design for Sketch Saturday was pretty straight forward and this image from our Sponsor Just Me Digital Stamps, which included the little sentiment, lent itself perfectly.

I colored the image with my Copics, using a N5, N4, then a little of N3 for the lighter spots on her tail, and C7 (because I didn't have a darker N) for the darkest shadows. I added just a bit of shading to the white sections using N0.  The envelope was colored with BG15 & BG13--then some Wink of Stella over the top to add some GLITTER!  The little heart was colored with V17, then topped with Accent Essentials.







I used my Wonky Stitched Rectangles from Gina Marie to cut the image, then layered with a dark purple. However, the plain white rectangle just looked TOO plain. so I did some soft Pool Party sponging around the edges.

The Sentiment was printed on Recollections Card stock then matted on a dark teal to match the envelope. I do so love fish-tails!!

I finished it off with some Glossy Accent drops in the corner.




I have been sick all week, and just ran out of time to do anything more. :-( But I know I have a stamp that says something like "to bring you cheer" that I can use on the inside--next week when I'm feeling better!

Thanks so much for visiting! And don't forget to also visit Sketch Saturday Challenge Blog to see what the other designers came up with!