Cheer In a Box

Here's a snippet of the card I designed and prepared for the Card In A Box swap at the Inklings team weekend. You can see the full card and product details over at the Elite Challenges Blog. I was a little bit sneaky and had based my card on this months sketch challenge (which is not sneaky, is being prepared...), and then Jayne asked me if I had some sketches we could use for challenges on the weekend... I figured we may as make one this sketch so I already had my card for one of the weekend challenges done mwahahahaha! LOL...

KW Colour Inspiration #53

This weeks challenge from Kristina involves some very bold colours, which I am not normally in to. But the timing was right for one of my nephew's birthday cards, and the inspiration photo helped a bit too. A few weeks back I had been walking through the newsagents and spotted a gift back with monsters/aliens all over it, and the main one that caught my eye had an oval-ish body that reminded me of the new Wide Oval punch. My phone memory was full so I couldn't snap a picture of it, and I didn't have time to take down the designer so I just had to remember the basic idea. The photo for this challenge reminded me of that, though I'm sure my little guy looks nothing like the one I saw! There's very little stamping on this card, and I even made two versions of it because I couldn't decide whether to go with the glitter or not (so I had to do both!). There may be just a few too many stars, but I was rather frustrated with my VersaMarker soaking into the cardstock so quick I couldn't even get 5 done and sprinkle the Heat & Stick powder on in time to get a significant amount to stick. Plan B was the Tombow glue.

The layout for the cards is based on Weekend Sketch Challenge #82.
All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red
Stamp Set: On Your Birthday, All In The Family
Ink: Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: sponge dauber, Stampin' Pastels, Tombow Mono Multi glue, wide oval punch, 1" circle punch, 1/2" circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, Crystal Effects, Chunky Essentials glitter, 3/16" corner rounder, Square Fire Rhinestone brads, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Show watched while creating: Doctor Who

Simple Birthday Greetings

It was Glenn's birthday last week, and this is the card I made for him. I did make the mistake of leaving it till the day before to make his card, so I was after something pretty quick and easy. I chose to copy a card from p120 of the SU! catalogue, although I ended up copying it more than I had intended! Initially I was working on copying just the layout, but after a bit of shuffling to make things work I ended up using very similar colours in much the same positions. The card base is textured Bashful Blue and the stars have all been coated with Crystal Effects, both adding some subtle interest. I did add a wee bit of black grosgrain: it's ribbon but it's black so it works for a guys card (Glenn at least said nothing about it... maybe he's learning? ).

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: textured Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Whisper White, More Mustard, Riding Hood Red
Stamp set: On Your Birthday
Inks: Basic Black
Accessories: Star punch, Clips Assortment, Basic Black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

May Inklings Cyberstamp Challenge 1, Part 2

When Lin Mei posted her first challenge for the Inklings cyberstamp, I also thought of this card which I had also made a few weeks ago but hadn't posted yet. Once again I decided that I could easily whip up another version of it with different paper, as well as finish sticking together one that was a UFO (Un-Finished Object). The card was inspired by this card by Amy, which was made ages ago but has stuck in my head as a great use of patterned paper.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss
Stamp Set: On Your Birthday
Inks: Real Red
Accessories: Raspberry Tart DSP, Flower Fusion, Flower Fusion Too, Circle Ice Rhinestone brads, Circle Fire rhinestone brads

I had made most of this one at the same time that I had made the Raspberry Tart one, but I didn't finish it straight away as I was waiting for my died Pretties flowers to dry. I colour my flowers using the markers, mainly because it's the cleanest way to colour them (not that I am against inky fingers). Even though using the markers doesn't get them as wet as some other colouring methods, with darker colours I have found it prudent to give them a long time to dry, and then a bit longer just to make sure, other wise you'll return to your project some time later and find the ink has bled into the cardstock underneath.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy
Stamp Set: Thoughts & Prayers
Inks: Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Bella Bleu DSP, Pretties Kit, Flower Fusion Too

And finally, this one was completely made on the night. I am so loving the Urban Garden paper! The Basic Gray and Not Quite Navy flowers near the top were created by double punching cardstock: punch the shape once, then put the punched out shape back into the punch but rotated so it will be punched in a different place and create a brand new shape. The easiest way to do this is to attach a scrap of paper (using temporary adhesive like Dotto) to the punch so you have something to hold on to and you can position the shape much more easily. I coloured the Pretties flower on this one with my Kiwi Kiss marker, however because it was being layered on top of a darker colour I didn't worry about making sure it was dry first since any bleeding is unlikely to show.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Basic Gray
Stamp Set: Occasional Greetings
Inks: Basic Gray
Accessories: Pretties kit, Felt Fusion Too, Clear Rhinestone brads, 5-petal flower punch, Boho Blossoms punch

KW Colour Inspiration #49

Woohoo! It's been a while since I have had a chance to work on one of Kristina's colour challenges straight away, and they were nice strong colours this week. I teamed the colours with last weeks Weekend Sketch Chellenge, once again I played a bit footloose and fancy free with the sketch. I know I have said it before, but I use sketches as a starting off point and if the end result doesn't follow the sketch to the pixel so be it, as long as it got me going I am happy. I've used Petal Pizzazz again, I'm really loving the shapes of these flowers (I initially got it as a replacement for Bodacious Bouquet but I'm starting to love it in it's own right). I've also broken out another new set - On Your Birthday, which is another one I bought purely to replace another retiring set (It's Your Birthday). I feel there is a bit more variety in the sayings with this set so I can see I'll probably end up liking it in it's own right too! The other new things on this card are the Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain, and the Pewter Build-a-brad for the top flower center (insanely easy to use).

And I've finally remembered to upload my third card for the Elite blog, another card that uses Petal Pizzazz.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Basic Black, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Petal Pizzazz, On Your Birthday
Inks: Pacific Point, Rose Red
Accessories: Pacific Point "marker", Kiwi Kiss "marker", Rose Red marker, Basic Black marker, Pewter Build-a-brad, Rose Red double-stitched ribbon, Kiwi Kiss striped ribbon, dimensionals
Show watched while creating: The Five People You Meet In Heaven