As promised, my new job has been somewhat overwhelming. But the launch of our department is tomorrow, so hopefully all the hard work will pay off (or it will be a complete disaster, I’ll get fired, and I’ll have all the time in the world to craft and blog). Today was a holiday for us, Columbus Day. It’s actually one of my least favorite holidays, because of the tragedy of his story that we end up glorifying and celebrating, but who can knock a day off? I ended up working about 3/4 of the day to get ready for tomorrow, but I spent the rest of my time off making some cards. I needed that.
Here’s what I came up with, and the challenges that inspired them:
I made this for Sketch N Scrap’s http://sketchnscrap.blogspot.com/2013/10/card-sketch-11-special-prize-alert.html. This has been one of my favorites, as having the sketch gives me a nice backbone to work off of. I made it for my new church birthday card ministry. I’ve sent cards out to about 4-5 people each month for the past couple months and it’s been really fun. Now I have to go to my list and find some October birthdays that haven’t already passed.
The colors in this card came from The Paper Players’ color challenge this week (http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.com/2013/10/pp167-jaydees-color-challenge.html). Jaydee chose Midnight Muse, Pool Party, and Whisper White. I found perfect great paper for the background in a huge book of origami paper my wonderful wife bought me last weekend in NYC (I go to NY and one of the only things I got was actually from the Barnes & Noble that we hung out in to kill some time before our dinner reservation). It had that perfect Pool Party color, so I popped it on the background (also, the sketch had a really neat polka-dotted background, so I thought this worked well). I used a midnight blue stamp pad for the small letters on the stamps, the Sharpie-drawn partial frame, and the ribbon. Funny thing about the frame is that was actually the side of my sewing tin that I traced. It was the perfect shape for the sketch:
The Whisper White is in the background of the background paper and the white Pitt Pen I used for the first letters of “Happy Birth Day”. I love those little tags but they’re ordinarily so expensive that I’d never spring for them. They were one of my finds at Resources for Rhode Island Educators (https://craftymadre.com/2013/08/25/heaven-im-in-heaven/).
I’m also entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Blog Wednesday Challenge (http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/). The challenge was to use Rubber or Clear Stamps. I used my favorite set of clear cling stamps from Hero Arts for the small letters.
The second card I made this afternoon was inspired by the Paper Craft Star photo challenge (http://papercraftstar.blogspot.ca/2013/10/challenge-165.html). They post a photo to use a photo for inspiration, and the photos are always really neat. I’ve checked out their challenges before, but never been able to think of anything that seemed to work. This week’s photo was a great autumn massage storefront scene, complete with pumpkins and foliage. People seem to be making a lot of Halloween cards, but, to tell you the truth, I’ve never really given a Halloween card. I didn’t think of it as a “card” holiday. So, instead, I made a birthday card using the colors.
The background was a page out of the aforementioned origami paper book. The paper’s all square (for obvious reasons), so I used the piece I cut off to add a little accent (folding it to give it some dimension before taping it on and then adding some ribbon on top of that). The folded paper is one of my favorite ways to add the ribbon look for gift wrapping (and might just be my Quick Tip Tuesday tip for tomorrow, if I can get around to posting about it.) I used some awesome Tim Holtz cardboard letters I’ve had tucked away for just such a look and glued them on. I really love this color scheme, and the challenge was the perfect way to show it off. I’m also entering it in Tammy Scrapin’ Corner’s Fall Colors themed challenge: http://www.tammyscrapincorner.com/2013/10/challenge-84-at-tammy-scrappin-corner.html and House of Gilli’s Anything Goes/Fall theme challenge: http://houseofgilli.blogspot.com/2013/09/challenge-54-anything-goesfall.html.
Finally, I made a nautical themed card for the Simon Says Stamp Blog’s MONDAY CHALLENGE (I love that they have 2 challenges a week on two different blogs named for the days they’re posted- it’s always easy to know when they next one will be up). (http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/challenge-nautical/)
This was my least favorite card of the bunch, and I wasn’t really sure what to do with it. The theme was “Nautical”, and it’s not something I’ve done much with. But, I happened to have this ship stamp and the “Bon Voyage” in my collection, so I figured “What the heck?”. I used a 3rd piece of origami paper (trust me, there were over 800 pages, so I have plenty left to actually use for origami). I used my midnight blue stamp pad to color the edges a little and then stamped it up. I finished it off with a square knot at the top. I didn’t really make this for anyone in particular, but it can go in my card box for the next time I need a going away card in a rush.
Great use of the sketch and beautiful cards. Thanks for playing along with us at Sketch N Scrap!
Thank you.
So very creative!!! All of these are great!!!
Thanks so much for playing along with us at Sketch N Scrap!!!!
Thank you! I love your sketches.
I’m glad you stepped outside your comfort zone to play along with us at Simon Says Monday challenge. Lovely cards!
Thanks a lot!
Love the tag! Great take on the sketch! Thanks for joining us at Sketch N Scrap!
Thanks a lot!
Oh dear, I hope the launch of your department went well! Glad you found time for some stamp therapy, and I love your creative use of materials. Thanks for playing along with us this week at The Paper Players!
Thanks… so far, so good! Stamp therapy always works for me. (Ironically, if it worked for everyone I wouldn’t have a department to run… somehow, though, I think there will always be a need for therapists.)
Wonderful cards! The bright blue really pops. Thanks for sharing with Sketch-N-Scrap
Thanks a lot. I do love that color.
So glad you found some time to get crafty–it’s so important! Clever use of the sketch, the colors and I love the collage look of your cards. Thank you for joining us at The Paper Players!
Thanks so much. I really needed that crafty time!
This is a wonderful creation with great details and its perfect for our ‘FALL COLOURS’ challenge. Thanks for sharing your talent with us. Good luck.
Hugs
Desíre
{Tammy’s Scrapin Corner Senior DT Member}
{Doing Life – my personal blog}
Thank you! I really love these colors.
You did a really great job. I enjoy looking at your art and reading your blog posts. It’s always SO inspiring to meet new crafty friends and I had a lot of fun looking at all your art. I hope that you will stop by and play along in our weekly challenges at Word Art Wednesday – our theme is always Anything Goes and we have AWESOME prizes so I hope to see you soon. Great work, love it!
Blessings,
Karen Letchworth, Blog Owner
Word Art Wednesday
http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com
Thank you! I will definitely check out your challenges.
Very pretty cards. Awesome colors and great take. WTG! Thanks for playing along with us at
Sketch-N-Scrap.
Rachelle
xxx
Thanks a lot!
Nice batch of cards! They are all just lovely! Thanks so much for joining us at Sketch N Scrap!
Thanks so much.
Love those mini tags. I love how you divide the sentiment using the tags to complete the greetings. So glad you joined us at Sketch N Scrap.
xx Ria
Thanks a lot. You can never have enough birthday cards, and breaking up “Birth” and “Day” made the words fit perfectly on the tags.
Awesome cards and I know what you mean by “needing” that crafty time! 😉 Thanks for playing along with us at Sketch N Scrap! 🙂
Thanks. It really does feed my soul.
Don’t you just love finding the perfect non-crafty items to help with your creations? I have just found a use for my husbands soldering iron! Thanks for sharing your gorgeous card with us at Sketch N Scrap. xx
I totally do! What did you use the soldering iron for??? I have one of those!
What fun cards! I love how you were able to trace your sewing tin for the shape on the first card, very creative! Thanks for joining us at Sketch N Scrap!
Thanks! I try to use whatever I can put my hands on.
I love your cards.
A lovely set of cards here … Thanks so much for playing along at Papercraft Star
Thanks a lot!
Great take on the sketch, I love how you wrote out “happy birthday” on the three tags. Thanks for playing along with us at Sketch N Scrap!
Thank you. I loved the sketch.