peaceful blue christmas sketch card*

another transparency-based holiday card for you today. i hope you'll be able to see the fun white-on-clear snowflakes; the light here isn't terrific at the moment! i used kazan's awesome sketch #67 from 2S4Y:



as well as taking inspiration from this week's blue christmas theme at city crafter challenge blog:


and here is my card:

(transparency: hambly; patterned paper: basic grey, dcwv, hambly, ki lace paper snowflake; brad: k&co; bling word: mambi; inks: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

hope you're having a lovely day...

happy friday, darlings! ♥

eta later on friday: i am also sharing this today for buzz, brag and bee happy friday...a super-fun feature at one of my fave new inspiration blogs, betty bee's buzz! why not drop by and see their DT's cool creations... (including my lovely friend june's gorgeous eiffel tower ATC's!) ...and then share some good news or a favorite recent project of your own?! they do it every friday...how cool is that?!

*yes. i know. this is one of my most boring titles EVER! but it was either this, or "OMG! there are only *23* days until xmas now!!!!!!!!!!!!" and that woulda bummed all of us out, wouldn't it? so in the interests of public morale, i went with dull but descriptive. you're welcome. :)

another sketchy xmas card!

you know how sometimes you can just suddenly be ON FIRE with a great idea for a card?! well, that didn't happen to me this time. but luckily i had some very pretty papers...some gorgeous fabric poinsettias snagged for a song in michaels holiday decor aisle...and laura's lovely sketch 66 from 2S4Y:


so i think was able to pull off quite a festive monochromatic card anyway:

(patterned paper: basic grey, kay & co, sei; poinsettias: michaels (lg), prima (med), making memoies (sm); additional layers of tulle & cardstock cut with nestabilities' "blossom two"; brad: mme (from nov's pixie dust paperie kit!); bling flourish: recollections (re-colored w/copics); velvet trim: doodlebug; felt word: anna griffin*; adhesives: tombow monorunner, gluedots, sewing machine)

and by heckie, with less than a month left till christmas, i'll take it ANY WAY i can get it!!! :)



*i got a pack of "calisto christmas" felt stickers at michaels last week and while they're beautiful AND i hate to be negative in public-- i would warn you strongly against them! those finely detailed diecut words are WELDED inexorably to their plastic backing! seriously, you CANNOT get those babies off without ripping the felt to shreds. but i'm a "can-do, make-do" gal, and since i'd already cut "celebrate" from the backing sheet, i just trimmed around the felt as neatly as possible and figured i'd attach it to the card with gluedots. as it turns out, rather bizarrely, the plastic that i could not get OFF the words, would not be held ON the card with any adhesive i owned!!! finally i just manhandled it on there and machine stitched my way cursingly across. i'm sending the rest of the packet back to the manufacturer. definitely NOT a timesaver! ah well. :(

double-challenge holiday card!!!

can i just say how much those words fill me with joy? it's thrilling to do any challenge...more so to combine two of my faves; and i really realllllllllly need to get going on holiday (or should i say "h-word"? yeah...better...) cards! ♥WAHOO!♥

i started with kazan's lovely sketch #66 from 2S4Y this week...

i added in the design dollies' current fab color combo of baby pink, grass green and white... (ok, admittedly i have a couple shades of pink and not MUCH green, but still...)

i grabbed my favorite recent purchase, this awesome pink snowflake transparency...et voila:

(transparency: hambly; fabric poinsettia: imaginisce; snowflake dies: nestabilities; metal & bead snowflake: jolees; bling flourish: oriental trading co; chipboard letters: ki memories; ribbon: michaels; spray ink: glimmer mist; crepe paper: from the party store; adhesives: tombow monorunner, sewing machine, otc brad)

here's a gratuitous second shot that shows how the inside is completely transparent. i love that look! making clear cards never stops being sort of magical to me! :) (but yeah--i will stick a little panel of patterned paper in there...under the poinsettia/snowflake thingie...on which to write a festive greeting!)

now i just need to make like 49 more...easy peasy mac-n-cheesy* right??!?!?! :) :) :)

*my friend trish said this in an email recently and it made me spit out coffee and nearly choke to death laughing. dontcha just LOVE IT when that happens??! :) (btw, is anyone else craving macaroni & cheese now? yeah, me too!)

happy day!

if it's saturday, it must be time for me to sneeeeeeeeeeeak in under the wire with my 2S4Y card! here is laura's lovely sketch #59:

and here is my card:

(digital bird stamps: tiffany doodles; patterned paper: american crafts, my mind's eye, sei, basic grey; glossy white cardstock & black glitter glue: ranger; glitter letters: american crafts; emboidery floss: dmc; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape; other: sewing machine)

having been lucky enough to win card of the week at 2S4Y a couple of weeks ago, my prize was an almost insanely generous *10* digital stamps from tiffany doodles! i had a fabulous--if quite difficult--time choosing my 10...because there are just SO MANY good ones over there!!! one of my very first selections was a set called "birdies and housework" because as soon as i saw those sweet tweets i imagined how cute they'd look flying along carrying a festive banner...and i think you'll agree i was right about that! :)

of course, i still have 9 more awesome doodles to show off...including an adorable fawn, some gorgeous indian style doodleblooms, and this BEAUTIFUL peacock, but in the meantime i say a very large ♥THANK YOU♥ to the 2sketches gang and also to the very kind and very talented miss tiffany!!!

i am not sure this fits EITHER of the challenges i was going for!

but i really like it, anyway! first i will show you what i did, and then i will tell you what i was *TRYING* to do, ok?! here is my card:

(patterned paper: sei; cardstock: core'dinations; glossy clipart: anahatakatkin; lotus stamp: studio g; sticky-back canvas: claudine hellmuth; chipboard flourish: fancy pants; paisley embossing folder: cuttlebug; lattice border punch: martha stewart; bling: heidi swapp & recollections; ink: stewart superior, colorbox, ranger & glimmer mist; adhesives: tombow monorunner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

mari got me my very own studio g lotus stamp (!gracias, m'ija!) which i ♥LOVE♥LOVE♥LOVE♥ and could not wait to use! i stamped it on some sticky-back canvas and "watercolored" it with glimmer mist. i used orange because of this rather awesome color palette from leah over at design dollies:

for some reason, as soon as i see orange and blue, i think india (...not sure WHY...) and i had the cool lotus, which was nice. so let's review: bright orange--check! light blue--yepper! royal blue...ummmmmmm, yeah... that's gone a bit purpley, actually. a sort of blue-ish purple, mebbe??!?! (squint REAAAAAL hard!) (ok, now squint and twirl the color knob on your monitor--there ya go!) ok, yeah. it might be sort of a stretch, but i will leave it to the authorities to rule definitively!

i think you'll agree i did slightly better with kazan's sketch 59 from 2S4Y:

granted, it's a loose interpretation, but at least all the bits are *THERE*!

so let's recap, shall we? color challenge... 2 outta 3; sketch challenge... kinda/sorta; really BOLD indian themed card i would never have made otherwise... ♥priceless!!!♥ :)

surprisingly elegant butterfly card

(FYI: the giveaway winner post is right below this one, scroll down to see if you won!!!)

i thought this card was going to have A LOT more stuff on it. in fact, i was planning to pretty much fill all of the available space with butterflies, kind of like i did on this journal page. but try as i might, in the end, i could only get *one* butterfly on there. whaddaya gonna do, right?

oof--i suppose i should've started out by mentioning that i used laura's sketch #58 from 2S4Y, shouldn't i? ok, well, i did...here it is...naturellement it is awesome:

and now here's the card in question:

despite the complete absence of auxiliary butterflies, i did manage to get quite a bit of embellishment on this thing: there's vintage lace & battenburg flowers from nana hartpence's sewing box...some yummy pink bling...stick-on pearls...and a hand-stitched border. et voila--the first of the september birthdays is checked off my list! :)

(~materials~ patterned paper & diecuts: k&co; kraft cardstock: hobby lobby; vintage: lace & battenburg flowers; bling: recollections; pearls: kaiser: ink: colorbox; embroidery floss: dmc; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

the sketch is IN THERE, honestly!!!

ETA sunday night: HOLY WOW! i am beyond thrilled and beyond proud to have been chosen by kazan and the 2S4Y team as card of the week, especially as it's a card that i had such a wonderful time making! thank you!!!!!

kazan's #58, i mean, from 2sketches4you:

i mention this because i've done a kind of funky and really reallllllllllllllly (really REALLLLY!) embellished version of the sketch, but it IS there; i've even had this confirmed by an independent observer! (ok, well, it was lovely husband jeff, but that still counts, doesn't it?!) right, here's the card:

(patterned paper (almost entirely scraps--wahey!): k&co, basic grey, creative imaginations, making memories, doodlebug, rouge de garance, prima, scrapbook wizard; transparency: hambly; princess bling & castle epoxy: mambi; stickers: sandylion, susan branch, oriental trading, sei, k&co, recollections, paperchase +tiiiiiiny nail art stickers from kmart(!); rub-ons: fancy pants; stickpins: joann essentials & making memories; misc chipboard & cardstock diecuts: basic grey, gin-x, sassafras, oriental trading; leaves: prima, brads: making memories & doodlebug; butterfly punch: martha stewart; pom pom trim and flowers cut from woven ribbon, both from a fabric store; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

is it a bad sign when one's product list is longer than the whole rest of the blog post??! ok, yeah, there is A LOT of stuff on here, but weirdly enough, this was a really economical card because almost everything that is on here is a) TINY and b) a scrap or a leftover...the last brad in the packet, a couple of stickers that didn't get used & i would've thrown out, loads and loads of tiny offcuts of pink paper used in other projects (from which i punched all those butterflies) etc, etc; the only thing i "cut into" freshly here was an 8x8 piece of patterned paper and a 12x18 piece of plain old white cardstock!

ps: my favorite part of this is the butterfly banner which i lifted wholesale from this post of heidi swapp's (i love her!) ok, hers are circles and triangles and little pennant shapes, but the idea of using the sewing machine to freehand sew them as garland and then attach THAT to the main piece is utter genius and i am going to use it A LOT more, so i hope ya like it!!! ♥

twinchies make a comeback!

i love inchies, but as a gal who tends to work *BIG*...they're just a little bit small for me! :) so i was pretty psyched to discover twinchies (decorated squares which are 2" instead of 1") and i had the feeling that they'd have loads of uses in card-making. this week's 2S4Y sketch (laura's 55) is a nice example of that, i think:

i fit four twinchies in the center of my 5.5" square card, and still had a comfortable margin of white space (in this case, it's kraft-colored white space!) left around the edges:

(patterned paper: creative imaginations, making memories, basic grey, prima, bo bunny, scenic route + vintage french text & vintage ledger paper; cardstock: hobby lobby; rub-ons: fancy pants, 7 gypsies, basic grey, american crafts, tulip; rubberstamp: inkadinkadoo; brad: studio g; cardstock diecut: k&co; border punch: fiskars; inks: ranger, bazzill, colorbox; adhesives: uhu gluestick, tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape; other: sewing machine)

as you can see i'm in a similar vibe to my bird card from earlier this week. in fact, this was the very next thing i made, and i used many of the leftover bits of paper and rub-ons i'd gotten out for that one: ♥HOORAY♥ for more art and less cleaning up! :)

pocketty* goodness!

sometimes i really need to think hard about what i'm going to do for a particular sketch, but not this week: the minute i saw kazan's rather lovely sketch #55 at 2sketches4you...

...with its cool, curvy, scooped-out center bit, i immediately thought, "POCKET CARD!"


and as soon as i'd got that far it wasn't all that much of a stretch to decide that the pocket ought to be made from a transparency, so that the inner bit would be visible. then it was just a matter of choosing papers and embellishments (aka "the FUN part!") and before i knew it i had this:

(transparency & rub-on words: creative imaginations; patterned papers: prima; flowers & ribbon: michaels; bling word: mambi; vellum birthday words and poem: dcwv birthday stack; eyelets: making memories; glitter glue: ranger; ink: color box; adhesives: 3m foam tape, sewing machine; other: tupperware lid used as template to create semi-circular pocket top)

you kind of HAVE TO love a card that practically makes itself, now dontcha??!

♥♥♥

*yes, it is too a word! :)
(all right, maybe not exactly; but titles are the hardest part of blogging (imo!) and it was the best i could do right now; i owe you a snappy--& grammatically correct--blog post title, to be collected next week, ok? thanks!)

2birds4...2sketches4you

eta sunday morning: WOW! i am in the ♥FAB FIVE♥ and i could not be more proud!!! thank you 2S4Y, and congrats to COTW and my fellow fab fivians! (all of which are well worth the trip to go see, i promise you!!!)


i confess i was just the teeniest bit stumped for an idea when i first saw laura's sketch #54:

which is why it's such a great thing that 2S4Y shows us some brilliant design team cards as well as their lovely sketches each week; as soon as i saw laura's adorable "pear" card i realized i also needed to make an anniversary card, and this was the perfect sketch to use!

i went with some marah johnson rockstar rub-ons... (yeah, they're fairly ancient by now, but i still~♥~ those things!) ...my last scrap of prima "flirty" paper... (sob!) some american crafts' clouds... and yes, as a matter of fact, the scallops and lines of tiny circles *were* cut from the packaging of some very old "love elsie" product. (yet another sadly discontinued line that i really miss!) isn't it amazing how you can make a full-sized card--this one's 5x7"-- from just a whole bunch of little bits and bobs?!

have i mentioned lately that i ♥LOVE♥ paper??!?! :)

i think i've reached the "hybrid" tipping point

the distinction between digital supplies and "real" ones is becoming a lot less important and less noticeable to me. a few years ago i felt much the same way about using vintage ephemera: it was quite a novelty to begin with, and then it just became my common way of operating. nowadays i find that many of my cards have a bit of old paper or ribbon, some specially purchased papercrafting products, and one or two digital files or images. i think it's a really nice balance!

last night i rotated kazan's sketch #54:



but otherwise stuck almost 100% literally to the sketch. (i know, i know--how often does THAT happen, lol??!?!) here's what i came up with:

(digi supplies: papers: cherry sugar sunshine kit by girl friday, digichick; frame: french oohlala tag brushes by rhonna farrer, house of 3; vintage supplies: sheet music; crafty supplies: papers & butterfly: k&co madeline collection; bling flourish: recollections (re-cut to fit); rub-on: basic grey; inks: colorbox; embroidery floss: dmc; adhesives: tombow monorunner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

ok, so what's "real" on here and what's "hybrid"? the frame with the flowers is digi, as is the (subtly re-colored to fit my scheme) pale pink smudgy background paper behind it...but... the flowers are hand-colored with copics..."celebrate" is a rub-on
...and the very very thin border of dark magenta around the frame was added manually after i cut out the panel. the dark pink distressed damask print that makes up most of the background is digi again, but the pale green card panel and butterfly are k&co right off the rack at michaels. two of the three layers that make up the horizontal strip are also scrapbooking papers, whereas the sheet music is vintage. the very thin line of dark pink stitching is hand sewn with embroidery floss.

so there you go: a little bit of everything, really, and now all i need is an envelope!

that high pitched noise you hear...

...is me squeeeeeeeeeeaking in under the 2sketches4you deadline on laura's rather awesome sketch 53:


my card is a VERY loosey-goosey version of the sketch...even for me! what can i tell you? inside my head, the "DAD" letters looked a lot more centered. and there wasn't a bird until quite late in the game. but you know these things take on a life of their own and sometimes you just have to go with it, right?!

(patterned paper: stemma, we r memory keepers; bird digi element (printed on vintage sheet music): gina cunningham, tyggereye art; plastic letters: heidi swapp; woodgrain tape: tapeswell; leafy ribbon: may arts; rub-on notes: maya road; label: dymo; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monor runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i must say i really like how this came out: i covered some very old ghost letters with my new favorite supply--decorative packing tape; the bird is a silhouette i cut using gina's "feathered friends" kit; and the black leaves on the background paper are spot laminated so that they have quite a bit of shine, irl.

more importantly, lovely husband jeff really likes how this came out...which is nice since it is his dad's father's day card! and now i think my work here is through! ♥

*********************

eta sunday morning: many thanks to leslie for the head's up that i made FAB FIVE and many thanks to 2S4Y!!! how especially cool to get in there with a "guy card"--by far the most challenging category for me! ♥♥♥

live simply, embellish generously! :)

i'm sure we're all wishing 2sketches4you a very happy 2nd anniversary this week, and i do think kazan's celebratory sketch is particularly fab!


my card features a few AWESOME tyggereye art goodies, sent by the lovely gina as a special surprise: a fabulous fabric heart embellishment with a handmade button for one thing, and some lovely hand-dyed lace for another:

(digi elements: paris holiday kit, o'scraps; patterned paper: prima, my mind's eye, sei; gems: recollections (recolored w/copics); rub-on: fancy pants; stick pin: scrapbook creations; ink: colorbox; xl rickrack: american crafts; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape & gluedots)

so i didn't need to add too much more to pull the card together, and all in all i really like how it came out!

want to see what else gina sent?

more yummmmmmmmy lace...a flamingo button embellie...felt cupcakes...some awesome owl ribbon...and of course a totally gorgeous card. but wait, you haven't seen my VERY FAVORITE thing yet--it's this guy:

uh-huh. it's my very own personal watchover ninja voodoo doll!!! the package says his purpose is, "to control your frustrations with idiots and help you show patience." i've already hung him from my rearview mirror!!! :)

speaking of gina, you might remember that in our last ATC swap she made me the most awesome set of three handpainted wizard of oz cards. i got them framed, of course, but it took me a little time to choose the perfect place to hang them. i put 'em right over my computer:

here's a closeup of the piece:

believe it or not, i had it done at michael's using one of their custom framing coupons, and i could not be happier. they had a great selection of frames and mats, and sue, the woman who waited on me, could not have been more helpful! we chose a plain black leather frame and a sparkly red mat and i LOVE IT!!! thanks, g!!! :)

ps: the new HEART the ART prompt is up...and it's a goodie!!! ♥♥♥

toujour le tour (eiffel, that is!)

do you ever get stuck on one set of images or colors or techniques? i do. all the time. i'll make ten pink cards, followed by ten cards with birds, followed by ten cards glimmer-misted within an inch of their lives. at the moment i am quite keen on the eiffel tower. and a tealish turquoisey blue. and the amazing new "bloomers" trim from webster's pages. but then, if you've read my blog the last week or so, none of this is news to you, so let's get right to the card, ok?!

first let me show you the sketch i used, it's kazan's 52 from 2S4y...i ♥LOVE♥ it...it's already in my "print & save" notebook!

pursuant to my "turquoisey blue" obsession, i was excited to see this week's color challenge at design dollies:

ok, in all honesty, i was only 2/3 excited about this color challenge: i love the black and the turquoise...the yellow...hmmmmm...i wasn't as sure about that one. i tend to be a bit yellow & orange challenged, actually. but being the brave and intrepid card-maker i am, of course i did what brave and intrepid card-makers always do in these situations: i cheated! :) ok, sorta-- i used gold instead of a true yellow. i didn't really even use MUCH gold, for that matter, but i think it still counts. i hope it still counts. (hey leah! does it still count??!)

(digistuffs used in collage, all from designer digitals...tropic grunge paper, gretchen thomas; floral art #2 brushes, anna aspnes; collage printed on 3m inkjet transparency & layered over a vintage french dictionary page; patterned paper: paper co, basic grey, vintage sheet music; eiffel tower sticker: frances meyer; bloomers flower trim: webster's pages; bling flourish: prima; alphabet stickers: k&co; other: vintage lace dyed with various shades of glimmer mist & radiant rain; beads & gold thread from my stash; adhesives: gluedots, tombow monorunner, sewing machine)

i used an extra digital collage i had printed out on inkjet transparency when i made this butterfly card for the "font throwdown" a few months ago; here i layered it over a bit of vintage french dictionary. i used an eiffel tower sticker from my stash, some brand new dymo-inspired alphabet stickers, leftover glimmer-mist-dyed lace from my mom's mother's day present, some layers of wonky hand-cut scallops, the aforementioned bloomers, and a few other bits and bobs that were laying about. and that's about it really, but after a week of not very much crafting, to me this represents a REALLY GOOD friday night! :)

butterflies are *FREE*...for NSD!

ok, i know you've been longing to try the fabulous new tyggereye art digital kits i've been showing off the last few weeks, but maybe you're a little nervous about plonking down your money when you don't know if you're really a "digi kinda gal" yet? well then this is your chance, because gina has made a brand new, very special, very cool, butterfly looking glass mini-mini-kit for national scrapbooking day...and it's completely *FREE*!!! just head over to the tyggereye blog and snag it for yourself!

i made a couple of cards with it last night...the first of what i suspect will be MANY...the first one uses kazan's sketch #51 from 2S4Y:

want to see?

i know you'll be shocked to hear that i totally fell in love with the gorgeous vintage butterflies, but just LOOK AT THEM--they're so vivid and beautiful! and the great thing about digi is, you can make as many as you want, in any size you want! i paired them up with some fabulous woodgrain packing tape i found at the ink pad in new york, and some beautiful iron-on applique from m&j trimming! (being too lazy to set up the ironing board at 10pm last night, i attached it with gluedots and added a few staples for good measure...trust me, that thing is ON THERE!)

as usual, i cut my butterflies out with a few extra layers behind them, so i could layer them on my card. i used DOUBLE layers of foam tape--one piece under each blue butterfly, one piece under each text butterfly--placed near the center of the body, so i could bend the wings up for loads of dimension. here's a slightly better view:


wouldja believe this teeeeeny little (4x4") card has *ALL THREE* of gina's gorgeous papers from the kit on it? the base is made from the soft pink watercolor...the center panel is a slice of the more vibrant print...and the mosaic i printed on a transparency that i cut at the same time as the text papers and the blue butterflies above!

here i've layered the transparency with a piece of gorgeously yellowed vintage dictionary, used another bit of lovely m&j goodness for a body, and placed it on my card with a little more vintage text for a sentiment. the pink and silver handmade paper comes from pearl paint in chinatown...more fruits of my fabulous trip to nyc last week!

i can't wait to see what everyone will make with this super-fun kit, so i am going to stop talking RIGHT NOW so you can go and download it!!!

happy NSD, darlings!

♥♥♥

(materials: butterfly looking glass mini-kit, gina cunningham, tyggereye art; additional patterned paper: prima +vintage book pages; woodgrain packing tape: tapeswell; iron-on trim: m&j; inks: colorbox; plain white cardstock & inkjet transparency: staples; photo paper: kodak; adhesives: uhu gluestick, tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine; other: vintage lace, dymo labels)

2 sketches for...SUSHI!!!

having been away from home for 5 days i found--as always--the only things i really cannot live without are lovely husband jeff and the ability/time/supplies to be crafty!* which is why, even though i have laundry galore, dust bunnies the size of tumbleweeds, and enough unanswered emails to wallpaper paraguay, what i did last night was clear a lauren-shaped hole in the living room and make a card using laura's sketch #50. hey--a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, right?! :)

and of course we all know that no matter how many fabulous supplies we possess, the thing we will always want to use most is whatever's brand new! in this case, i had been given a little sneaky peek at the new tyggereye art digital minikit: SUSHI TONIGHT!

strictly speaking, it's not out until next wednesday**...but i just COULD NOT WAIT! i had to have a little play ! it's really gina's fault...if she expects me to practice restraint, she's going to have to start making these things considerably less awesome!!! (& trust me folks...it ain't gonna happen!) i made a hybrid card, just because i really needed to do some real life cutting and pasting!

(digital elements: sushi tonight minikit, tyggereye art; patterned paper: rouge de garance, basic grey + text from a japanese workbook; black glossy cardstock: ranger; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

once again, when i cut out the little pieces of sushi i was holding a second layer--in this case of plain black paper--behind the print-out so that in addition to the elements i had silhouettes of their shapes, also. these i glued just slightly offset behind each bit of fishy goodness to make a sort of drop-shadow; i love how that looks! the word strips (which i welded together digitally to form that nice border) and sushi's are printed on photo paper for a little bit of gloss and shine.

in my original vision i had loads of layers of the kit's gorgeously grunged-up papers as the base of the card...it was beautiful and super-colorful...but then, when i went to glue it up, i set everything aside onto some black "rouge de garance" paper and it made the sushi panel *POP* so wonderfully...well, i changed the entire plan in midstream! after that, i decided it only needed a little bit of distressing and sewing to increase the "texture factor"!

more examples from the kit later this week...not to mention lots more new york photos! ♥

*i did work on my new york travel journal every night in the hotel; i'll post pics when it's finished, hopefully next week!

**update: it turns out, GINA couldn't wait either...the sushi kit is out *now*! HOORAY!

more luscious prima goodness

this time i've used shanna vineyard's gorgeous bonus sketch from 2 sketches for you:


(i had hoped to be posting this in addition to a card made from laura's sketch #49...but i ran out of time this week! )

the other night when i made the sketchy thursday pocket card, my plan was to cut some of the butterflies from the "flights of fancy" paper and place them in the diecut "window"...but then i found that sweet bird rub-on & went that way, instead. now i've come back to my first idea, and turned it into an anniversary card for my aunt and uncle.

(patterned paper: prima, love elsie, basic grey; chipboard word: ek success; florals: prima + vintage sprig dyed w/glimmermist; label die: nestabilities; border punch: fiskars; lace: making memories; glitter glue: stickles; other: sewing machine; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, gluedots)

i am down to my last few "inspirables" chipboard words by ek success, and it is bumming me out big time that they do not seem to make 'em anymore! i bet i have bought half a dozen packs of those over the years, they are just *SO* practical! they're exactly the right size for cards...self-adhesive...in a decorative but readable cursive font...and self-adhesive! they're made of glossy chipboard, in sort of "usefully neutral" colors; but are easily altered with paint, ink or even a sharpie! bye-bye, lovely word art...i shall miss you!

so what obscure but vital papercrafting products do *YOU* mourn the loss of?

(tell, tell!)

♥

a sketch card that looks *EXACTLY* like the sketch!

(yes, this is still lauren's blog!)

ok, so i took kazan's rather lovely and quite versatile sketch #49:


grabbed the off-cut of cardstock from yesterday's card...did a spot of paper-piecing and die-cutting with paper scraps (thus making my card eligible for MFW's "picking up the pieces" challenge, too!) ...tossed in a few brads and some swirly white rub-ons...et voila!

instant (well, practically) birthday card!

****************

(glossy white cardstock: ranger; patterned paper: christina cole, scrapbook wizard, basic grey, pink paislee, love elsie; cupcake rubber stamp: hero arts; label die: nestabilities; brads & flourish rub-ons: making memories; word rub-on: basic grey; felt ribbon: k&co; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape)

it's friday:

told ya!* :)

♥

that being the case, this seems like an excellent time for a sketch. laura's 48, perhaps?:

and then obviously i should show my interpretation:

(patterned paper: my mind's eye, cosmo cricket, scenic route + some love elsie fabric paper ripped off its paper backing & stitched to the page; vintage: sheet music and chinese text paper; cardstock sticker: sassafras; rub-ons: maya road, fancy pants; ink: versamark black; pen: copic outliner; glass bauble: hero arts; other: dymo label, sewing machine; adhesives: tombow monorunner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

i really loved stef's lovely day "thrinchie" earlier this week, and last night when i was cleaning up scraps i realized this off-cut of folded white cardstock would make a really cute little square card...and i think i was right about that! mine is about 4.25" square, and again...it's quite a loosey-goosey version of the sketch... (honestly, i do set out to follow them absolutely faithfully--but then somehow, sort of midway through, my laureniness kicks in, and things take a turn for the weird!) i do like it, though, particularly since amost the entire thing is made of leftovers and extra bits i'd cut out for other projects. using up scraps...gotta love that, right?! :)

*for the benefit of folk who were not raised on american television: the photo is of the actor jack webb who starred as sergeant joe friday in the police show "dragnet" in the 1950's. the show, which still ran throughout my childhood in re-runs, was sort of the "CSI" of its day, in that it showed a daringly realistic (though generally not violent, and emphatically NOT glamorous) version of rank and file police detectives going about their daily routine.