Sketch Saturday - Sketch #316

It's Saturday, so that means another challenge at the Sketch Saturday Blog.  This week the Etsy Shop, All Dressed Up Stamps is our sponsor.  The images Wendy Burns draws are great to work with.

I am using Party Girl #2 from the Three Little Party Girls set.  I have been working on blonde hair lately and working at keeping a light touch.  Without knowing it, Marilyn, my friend from All Dressed Up, keeps me inspired and challenged by her beautiful coloring.  I've been using her four colors (Y21, 23 & E33, 35) a lot lately - and the variation they can achieve is amazing.

Challenges Entered:
Through the Craft Room Door /- AG
Clear It Out/ - Favorite ice cream (Lemon Gelato)
Shopping Our Stash/ - favorite color (yellow)
Fan-Tastic Tuesday/ - AG
Seize the Birthday/ - AG
All Dressed Up/ - AG

Sister Act - Challenge #63

This week's card is an invitation I created for a family bridal shower.  I wanted to keep it simple so I could mass produce them, while at the same time was sure to incorporate the bride's wedding color choices - kraft, SU's Blushing Bride and PTI's Berry Sorbet.  I used a stamp set from Papertrey Ink, called Botanical Silhouettes.  It was their anniversary set from 2010.  I popped on a few sequins in key spots.

Stop by the Sister Act Blog to see what the rest of the girls have for you this week.

Color Me Creative - Friends Challenge and News . . .

Sadly, this is the last CMC challenge for a while.  After starting Color Me Creative four years ago, Suzanne Dean, (the "Queen of Copics" in my book) is moving on to a new phase of her life and is letting go of CMC.  I was asked to be on the DT about 10 months ago and owe Suzanne a big thanks for including me on the team.  My coloring skills have grown tremendously and I will be forever grateful to everyone at CMC.

With this being the final CMC challenge under Suzanne's leadership, it's so fitting that the theme is Friends.  This week, Jennifer Nilsson and her Etsy Shop The Doodle Garden are sponsoring Color Me Creative's challenge.  I used Jennifer's sweet Keep Smiling image for my card.  What a cutie (like all of Jennifer's illustrations are)!  My card design is inspired my friend, Maura's card.  I am sure you will be able to spot her influence!

You can send Suzanne your best wishes over at Color Me Creative.  Play along with us if you love coloring and have been influenced by Suzanne.  It would be spectacular for this challenge to show Suzanne our appreciation with a big finish!



Challenges Entered:
Crafting By Designs/ - favorite holiday
4 Crafty Girls/ - AG
Seize the Birthday/ - AG
Stampin' for the Weekend - AG (last challenge)  :{
613 Avenue Create/ - AG
Pile It On #25/ - Kawaii/Cute
That Craft Place/ - AG
Doodle Garden/ - June/Summer Lovin'
Catch the Bug /- June BINGO challenge (top row across - more than 3 layers, squares (pockets and patches), teal

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #315

This will be a quick post for now.  I'm off to go be a cheerleader for my adult daughter who is running a big half-marathon this weekend in Duluth, MN.  Not a runner myself, I can't imagine ever thinking a 13 mile run would even remotely fun!  Thank goodness I'm a just spectator in all of that craziness!!

This week Deb has a great sketch for us and Whimsy and Stars Studio is our sponsor.  Mabelle is another artist with adorable images to color.  This little sweetie is called Flowery Gift.  Stop by the Sketch Saturday blog and see the DT's work.



                                               Copics used:
Skin - E13, 99, R20
Shirt, bow - RV000, 00, 11
Pants - BG0000, 000, 11
Leaves - YG03, 21, 67

Challenges Entered:
Clear It Out /- AG/stash AG
Shopping Our Stash #156/ - Oldest punch or die (daisy flower punch - one of my first, but an old reliable!!)
Party Time Tuesdays #177/ - Glitter (on the flowers and headband)
Divas By Design/ - Three or More Layers
4 Crafty Girls/ - AG
Craftitude #67 - Use Flowers

Sister Act #62

This week Sister Act is sponsored by Di's Digi Stamps.  Since our challenges are always anything goes, you have lots of freedom to create.

My card was inspired by work from my friend, Maura.  She was Splitcoast Stamper's Featured Stamper  this past week.  In the FS challenge, people choose a card from the Featured Stampers gallery to CASE and post it.   I CASEd Birthday Stars from Maura's gallery.  No coloring- just die cuts and a little stamping.  The card uses the inlaid technique, which is a lot of fun - almost like putting a puzzle together.  I know I will do a few more!

Play along with us at Sister Act this week.  Leave me a comment if you try the inlaid technique and I'll make sure I stop and take a closer look.

Challenges Entered:
CASology #100/ - Celebrate
Tuesday Throwdown #200/ - Celebrations
Divas By Design/ - Three or more layers
Crafting By Designs /- Favorite Holiday
4 Crafty Girls/ - AG
Seize the Birthday - AG

Crafty Sentiments - CAS Challenge

Oh, if only the creators of this week's theme for Team B knew how challenged I am when it comes to CAS!  A fan of a well-made CAS card, I appreciate the special talent and eye for detail it takes to create one.  However, as someone who is not precise, I rely on adding extra things to distract the eye from noticing design flaws or uneven stamping or cuts of paper!  So here's my offering, using this sweet-faced CSD image called Day Dreaming.

In looking at the picture as I type this, I want to go back and add something to the card!  Maybe a trio of rhinestones. . . I almost used a die cut sun, but it didn't seem relevant.  Is it the rule of threes?  The placement of the image? My critical eye says it's okay, but its design is not one of those beauties I instantly know is a perfect CAS.  I welcome your feedback, especially if you are a CAS gal and can help me articulate what works and what doesn't.

I'm sending the card off to my 5 year old grandson who lives in Colorado.  He'll be thrilled to get something in the mail!  He's a little packrat and has a special spot where he saves all of the cards I make for him!!  Now that's love!

Stop by the Crafty Sentiments Challenge Blog this week.  Play along!  I can't wait to spend time in the gallery looking at your CAS creations.

Challenges Entered:
Cute Card Thursday #325 - Macho
Creative Fingers #39 - AG

Sister Act Challenge #61

This week's Sister Act Challenge is sponsored by Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps.  I am using their image called Delphinium.

 I was inspired by the shades of purples and blues in the picture to the right for my coloring.  I used lots of V and B Copics.  Some of the deeper tones are actually done with V09 on top of the blue! I embossed the card back.  The colored strip behind the main image is actually a deep purple, which picks up the ribbon.  I colored three rhinestones with Copics and added them under the happy birthday sentiment.  Play along with us at Sister Act this week.  Stop by the blog and see what the other DT members have in store for you.

Challenges Entered:
Crafty Girls #20 - AG

Stick It Down - June Card Sketch

Back today with my last blog post for the Stick it Down Blog.   It was lovely to be part of their card team for the past six months.  My card features an old stamp called, Tea Time from MFT.   I added the flowers to her dress with another stamp I have in my collection.  The sketch is a great one to use for a variety of cards.  Hope you will play along.

Color Me Creative #94 - Anything Goes!

I just love an anything goes challenge- and we have one for you this fortnight at Color Me Creative and it's sponsored by Digi Stamps 4 Joy. My CAS card uses their digi, Rose trio.   I love this one, but it's not where I started!

Using Google images, I could look through so many photos of roses for inspiration. I was drawn to the cream colored roses with the bright pink tips.  I thought they would create some visual interest for my coloring.

I printed three images and started out coloring the flowers on the far right, playing with the idea of creating the beautiful roses in the photo.  The first one I colored was the middle flower.  I liked it, but it had a little too much yellow.  I went to the smallest bud next and used my Y0000.  Then I wondered what a more traditional pink flower would look like, so I colored the last rose.  I was undecided about which kind of rose I liked best, so I colored one entire image in pink-tipped and the other just pink.

RV25 is my deepest color, and I didn't really have any pink paper in my collection that enhanced the image, nor did I have the right patterned paper to use for the tipped flowers. You know how that goes . . . The white, gray and black combination made the pink stand out, and created a gorgeous CAS card.  I'll save the other colored roses for another time!
Challenges Entered:
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards #66 - Embossing/
Craftitude - Pop It Up/
Less Is More - Colors of your bedroom (dark gray)/
Creative Fingers #38 - AG
Stampin' for the Weekend - AG

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #313

Recipe for trouble:  Take a lovely sketch, print a cute image too big to fit the sketch and color it before thinking about the overall card!

Yikes!  I think I spent more time trying to fix the problem I created than it would have taken me to color a whole new image in a smaller size!  I started with a horizontal A2 card and thought I could make it work.  I monkeyed around and adapted the sketch a bit (Sorry, Alex!), but it just didn't fit. Back to the drawing board (at about 11:30 p.m.- on a work night) and start over with a bigger card base.  The trouble was, I needed a 12x12 piece of plain cardstock (which I don't have in great supply).  Obviously I got the card done, and the good news is I have a nice A2 card back with sweet little trees as a background waiting to be used for a future card.  I'm sure we all have stories like this!

Anyway, Alex is our lovely sketch designer this week for Sketch Saturday.  Sassy Cheryl Stamps is the sponsor.  This is her sweet image, Freedom, featuring her character named Noah.  Stop by the blog to see how successfully the other DT members were using the sketch for their cards!
Challenges Entered:
Crazy 4 Challenges 239:  Man Made/
Crafty Fingers #38 - AG

Sister Act Challenge #60

It's the 60th Anything Goes challenge this week for Sister Act!  Milk Coffee Stamps is the sponsor.

I chose a Dr. Digi image this week, called BBQ Bill.  This guy looks a little like my husband! I chose to give him a mustache and a goatee.  It's the one area of my coloring that I wish I could do over.  It's a little too gray and I was going for more white.  I added a second hot dog on the grill and used a computer generated sentiment.

Stop by the Sister Act blog to see what the rest of the DT cooked up!  :>

Challenges Entered:
Pile It On -  Humor/
Naughty or Nice #5- For the Men
Allsorts Challenges #61 - For the Guys/
SPD05 - Make it Masculine

Crafty Sentiments Designs - Anything Goes!

Team B has the Anything Goes challenge for Crafty Sentiments Designs this week.  Who doesn't LOVE an anything goes challenge?!?  I used I Love Flowers, one of the new May releases for my card.

I am pleased with the blonde hair on this girl!  I used the same hair colors I've been using lately, but with a lighter touch and a lot more white and E50 with minimal amounts of E55 and no E44.  This was a fun card to color.  Lots of opportunities to work on shading,  I used my Lil' Inkers stitched oval dies for the cut out frame around the image.


Challenges Entered:
Simon Says Stamp!  - AG/
Divas By Design - AG/
4 Crafty Chicks - AG/
Digitally Sweet #19- Friendship/
Alphabet Challenge H -Handmade Embellishment/
Chocolate, Coffee  & Cards - embossing/