Woohooo!

I saw this sketch challenge for World Card Making Day on the Moxie Fab World blog and decided to give it a whirl.  I stuck to the sketch layout pretty literally since it was perfect for what I had in mind.  I've had this little owl in my scrap pile for several months.  I had colored it with the new Stampin' Up Blendabilities markers to try them out when I was at a friend's house.

I pulled out the Retro Fresh decorative paper by Stampin' Up and finally cut into it.  I love these fun patterns and colors!  It's difficult to see, but I smudged some Vintage Cream pigment ink on the Coastal Cabana panel to give the feel of soft clouds.  I hand cut a piece of Baked Brown Sugar cardstock into the shape of a tree branch and added woodgrain lines with the matching marker to give my owl a place to perch.

The two patterned paper banners were cut using the Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX dies by My Favorite Things.  I love their fishtail flag dies and use them a lot, so adding the pierced version of these dies to my stash was a no-brainer.

I'm rather giddy at how well this card turned out.  It was fun to make, and for once, it went pretty quickly!  You can see other cards for the sketch challenge here.

Stamps:  Chubby Chums (Paper Smooches)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento); Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar, Retro Fresh dp (Stampin' Up)
Misc:  Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX die (My Favorite Things); Baked Brown Sugar marker, Daffodil Delight Blendabilities markers (Stampin' Up)

World Card Making Day

I'm jumping online to post a card I made this morning for World Card Making Day.  This one is for a Power Poppy challenge to use a past Inspire Me Monday tutorial.  I picked this one, a monochromatic color technique, that I've been meaning to try for awhile.

Oh my goodness, this technique totally gives me an excuse to get more Memento colors!  I just have neutrals, so I chose to use Rich Cocoa for my card.  Essentially, you stamp the image first, smooch the inkpad on an acrylic block for a pool of color, and then use a blender marker to shade the image.  I also shaded around the flowers with two colors of Copic markers to add depth and splatted a bit of the Memento ink over the whole thing using a waterbrush.  Click the link above to see the tutorial on the Power Poppy blog.

I cut the flowers with a Labels Twenty-Two die and offset it with some Kraft cardstock cut with the same die.  I popped it up with dimensionals over a Kraft card base that was embellished with strips of patterned paper.  Both the floral piece and the card base were lightly sponged the edges with Distress Ink.  It's pretty subtle, but it really adds to the final look.

I enjoyed doing this technique!  World Cardmaking Day is a great time to try something new.  :)  I added my card to the official blog tour here.  Back to the studio...

Stamps:  Azalea (Power Poppy)
Ink:  Rich Cocoa (Memento); Antique Linen (Tim Holtz Distress)
Paper:  Kraft, White (Papertrey Ink); Autumn Meadows dp (Stampin' Up)
Copic: 0, E41, E42
Misc:  Labels Twenty-Two die (Spellbinders); blender pen (Stampin' Up); waterbrush

Birthday Balloons

I recently purchased the new Taylored Expressions Up, Up and Away cutting plate to make quick and easy birthday cards.  It's a fun design that fills a card front and leaves room for a sentiment.  Here's a card I made using it.

Isn't that fun?  I cut the balloon frame out of black cardstock and mounted in on a white card base.  I cut the four balloons out of Urban Prairie patterned paper and glued them in place.  Super quick and easy paper piecing!  Then I stamped my sentiment using my Big Greetings set.  A set of these cards would make a fun gift.  Plus, it's an easy design when you're in a hurry for a birthday card.

Stamps:  Big Greetings (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper:  White, True Black (Papertrey Ink); Urban Prairie dp (Basic Grey)
Misc:  Up, Up & Away cutting plate (Taylored Expressions)