Creative Knockouts #87 - Finish the Inside!

Back with a new challenge from Creative Knockouts today.  This one is all about decorating the inside of the card.  My inside is on the CAS side.  I decided to use a strip of the same red paper and then glue a variety of sequins to send some birthday cheer.

Color Ink Digital is sponsoring our challenge.  The offer digi stamps that are black and white or colored along with sentiments!  I'm using their boy called Fishing Peter.  I added grass around him with my Copics and a hint of a river behind him.  I found the perfect "wish big" sentiment in my collect, which was great stamped right above the fish.

Check out what the other members of the DT have for you here and come and play along with our "Finish the Inside" challenge.  I can't wait to see what you do!

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #358

Our Sketch Saturday teamie, Niki, is sponsoring the challenge this week with a lovely prize.  We were free to use our own images for this challenge and Deb's sketch whispered, "Go CAS," to me.   I needed to make a couple of baby cards, so I went to PTI's Text Block Baby die.  I mounted the die cut to a the patterned paper, so I could pop it out over the lace.  I used Wink of Stella over the die for a little subtle shimmer on the white.

CAS cards are truly a challenge for me.  My style is clean-lined but not necessarily simple.  True to form, I wanted to add other things to this card and came back to it a few times.  Each time, I could hear my friend Maura's voice say, "Step away from the card!"  She started friendly, and gradually got more firm!!

I'd love some feedback, especially if your style is CAS.  Is there something I can do to make this one of those, "Wow!" CAS cards?

Come and play along with us at Sketch Saturday this week.  Take a peek at the other DT cards here!

Challenges Entered:
Craft Your Passion #258/ - AG
Cards in Envy 4/20/ - Pink
Fab 'n' Funky #256 /- Lace
The Crafter's Cafe #113/ - Lace or Ribbon
The Paper Shelter #200 /- It's A Celebration
In the Pink #67/ - Make it Sparkle
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards #89/- Use a Die Cut

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge #8 - Anything Goes

The Lil' Patch Challenge #8 is an anything goes challenge.  I was lucky enough to be able to use an image from one of our three sponsors, A Day For Daisies.  They're a dream to color.  This on is called Aloha Parasol - she's just luscious!  I decided she was going to be a more "mature" woman and gave her some wrinkles around her belly.  Although now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure my mature gal would be wearing such a itty bitty bikini! I colored pearls with my Copics and added them to the parasol and as accents around the sentiment.

I used this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches to design my card.



Copics Used:
Skin:  E000, 21, 11
Flowers:R11, 20, 22, 24
Parasol: Y00, 04, 08 R20
Bikini:  BG000, 11, 32
Sand:  E41 (based) and dots of other E colors, some R20 and BG 11

The three sponsors for our challenge at Lil Patch of Crafty Friends means more chances to win prizes for you!  I love that Denise has three sponsors per challenge -  and the challenge this fortnight is anything goes!!  Take a peek at the DT's use of sponsor images here and be inspired to play along.

  

A Day for Daisies

Prize:  $12 gift certificate

Bugaboo Stamps

Prize:  7 images

Emerald Faeries

Prize:  3 images

Challenges Entered:

A Day for Daisies #119/ - AG

Corrosive Challenge #222 - Floral Fantasy

Freshly Made Sketches/ #182

Little Miss Muffet #109/ - AG

Crafty Catz #275 /- It's a Girl Thing

Alphabet Challenge - E for Eye-Catching Edges

My Sheri Crafts #155 - A Girly Card

My Time to Craft #288 - Umbrellas

Creative Knockouts #85 - Texture!

Are you ready for a new challenge at Creative Knockouts?!?  Team B is up with a Texture Challenge - use embossing folders, heat embossing powder, texture paste - anything to give your card texture!  I used two different embossed papers that were in my scrap drawer (love when that happens!) and embossing powder for my sentiment.

A Day for Daisies is our sponsor.  The image I chose is from the Timeless Beauties collection, called Bird's Nest - isn't she fun?!?  I love her face - the eyes, those full lips and that button nose!!  I almost let the hair intimidate me, but took a deep breath and dove in.  It was actually more simple than I thought because I tackled it section by section.  My practice image had more highlights, but I'm pretty happy with this one. I've found that sometimes layers of colors build up when I color hair if I am using Cryogen white paper.  Strokes won't blend out and I can't get the contrast with shading, so I have to stop!!

This week's sketch from Retro Sketches was used to design my card.

Take a look at what my teamies have done for you here and then play along with us.














Copics used:
Skin - E00, 21, 11, R20
Hair - E50, 51, 53, 55, 37
Birds - BG000, 11, 18, E41, 44
Background - RV0000, 000, W0

Challenges Entered:
Retro Sketches/ -  #160
The Pink Elephant #294/ - Photo inspiration (colors)
Through the Craft Room Door/ - AG (April 14-20)
Corrosive Challenge #222 /- Floral Fantasy
Shopping Our Stash #197 /- Lost and Found (embossed papers)
A Day for Daisies #119 /- AG

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #356

Welcome back to another week of our Sketch Saturday challenge.  Niki is our sketch designer this week and Simon Says Stamp! is our sponsor.  The challenge winner will have a $25 credit to their online store!  What a great prize - and they are having a sale of 25% off of Copic markers until April 17th!

I used a free image from Aurora Wings for my card.  Mitzi offered the image last week when she reached 2,500 likes on the Aurora Wings Facebook site.  She's a sweetie and was a great fairy to color.

Take a peak at what the DT has for you this week and then join us for this week's challenge.  I can't wait to see what you make!

Challenges Entered:
Aurora Wings #13/ - AG
Craft Your Passion #256/ - AG
Clear it Out (April 7th)/ - AG/AG (lace border)
Little Red Wagon #284/- Spring Is In the Air
Creative Inspirations #308 /- A Trio of -(sequins)
Little Miss Muffet #109/ - AG
Crafty Catz #274/ - 2 or More Patterned Papers
House of Cards - April Week 1 - use a butterfly

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #355

Sketch Saturday is sponsored by Sami Stamps this week.  Sami's work has long, beautiful, sweet lines as you can see in this image, Butterfly Flower.

I decided to keep my design very clean-lined and minimalistic, using a favorite color combination - gray, white, and yellow.  The circle border and image are imbedded into the gray background paper.

















I knew right away that I would use yellows for my flower and when deciding on my butterfly, decided to get a little help from Google images.  I found this photo and knew I wanted to use the top, right butterfly.  The shape was perfect, the butterfly was interesting and it helped keep the color orange moving around the card.  I then fussy cut a mate and doodled its antennae.

Come and join our sketch challenge this week.  Here's what the DT has created to inspire you with Deb's wonderful sketch.



Challenges Entered:
House of Cards  April Challenge - Add a butterfly
Curtain Call/ - Beginnings
Corrosive Challenge #221/ - Spring
Craft Your Passion #255/ - AG
Cards in Envy/ - Spring is in the Air
Creative Inspirations/ - #307
Creative Fingers/  - #74
Simply Papercraft #1/ - AG

Creative Knockouts #83 - DieCut/Punch Frenzy Challenge

Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet is sponsoring the latest challenge from Creative Knockouts with a $10.00 prize to use at their site for the challenge winner.  Stitchy Bear has quite a wonderful variety of digital images.  My card uses one called Fanciful Bouquet.

Since it's a die cut/punch challenge, I decided to make use of my stitched rectangle dies from Lil' Inker.  The Simon Says Stamp! hello sentiment is a die cut and so is the flag it is mounted on.

I think I had almost every V and BV Copic I owned out as I colored these flowers because  I wanted to use a variety of colors in the same color family in the bouquet.  The thing I discovered as I played was adding some V to the BV colored flowers gave them some interest and dimension that using 3 adjacent colors didn't.  The same thing happened when I added BV to the flowers colored mainly with V markers!  I used a B39 in the interior of the bouquet which gave a different kind of depth than just dark greens!  My point in all of this is don't be afraid to experiment outside of the traditional color combinations!

I decided this image was a perfect one for trying something I have been thinking about for a while - a different kind of out of the box technique.  The image is printed so it's large enough to cover the card front. (Gotta love digital images for this!!)  The largest Lil' Inker rectangle die covers the whole card front.  I trimmed the outer edges a bit so the deep purple paper underneath was still visible.  Then I took another die and cut the center.  This created a "frame" for my with the colored image, which is popped off of the card front.  I had to trim the inset panel before I mounted it on white and adhered it to the purple card back.


The hello & flag sit on top of the outer frame and is also mounted on foam, so the card had many layers and lots of dimension.  My photography skills and camera aren't really able to do justice in showing the card's dimension.

I love the way the card turned out - and how "front and center" the technique uses the Stitchy Bear image.  I hope you will share your talents with us at Creative Knockouts for Challenge #83.

Challenges Entered:
Pink Elephant #282/ - AG
Aurora Wings #13 - AG
Party Time Tuesday #196/ - AG
Crafting by Designs - April AG Challenge
Sentimental Sundays #252/ - Springtime Flowers
Cards in Envy/ - Spring is in the Air
One Stitch At A Time #233 - AG with Nature
Emerald Faeries #66 - Spring Flowers
Ladybug Crafts April Challenge - A New Start