Here's a card I made using CPS Sketch #137, Hero Arts stamps (Floral Cling & Friends), and Basic Grey Nook & Pantry papers.
It is inspired by these cute sneak peek cards using sentiments inside of these fun frames. The Floral Cling was stamped on DP and then three more times for the brown stem and flowers with lots of detail cutting.
Today I added two more Cropper Hopper storage units to my studio and removed several clear plastic storage units that were bowing from the weight of my stamps.
In the process of reorganizing, these scraps of paper were on the top of my scrap bin, so I decided to see if I could pull them together in a holiday tag for the Hero Arts challenge.
I love unexpected color combinations for the holidays. The stamps are Hero Arts Clear Design Holiday Sayings. I added a little pink sparkle pen to decorate the tree.
The challenge at the Hero Arts blog this week is to create a holiday tag. When I saw this week's Just Us Girls Challenge Sketch, my idea finally came together.
My husband has a shelf on his dresser where he displays cards and things that I've made for him. I decided that I wanted to make him a monochromatic holiday tag using the sketch flipped on its side.
I used scraps of DP (Memory Box and Basic Grey I believe) and cardstock, together with some blue & silver ribbon, punched hearts, and adhesive gems. Stamps are Hero Arts Holly Flourish and Together. I love the holly leaves in Prussian Blue.
This card also works for the Gingersnap Creations Monochromatic Challenge.
A tag works better than a card for displaying, so it can lean against the back of the shelf.
Yesterday. in my failed search for velvet in my studio, I did discover a stash of felt that I had forgotten about. Included in the felt stack was some great sparkly holiday felt that I picked up on post-holiday clearance last year for pennies (with no idea what I would do with it). I previously had a failed attempt at using felt with punches (trust me, don't try it), but this year I have Nestabilities, so I thought I would give that a try ... worked like a charm.
The sketch (love the combination of squares and circles) is CPS144. The blue paper is some hand-made polka dot embossed paper that I also found yesterday in my search through the studio. The background is stamped with Hero Arts Flourish Pine and the sentiment is a perennial favorite from Wordsworth - Square Peace, which I am unable to find on their website (highlighted with silver Sakura sparkle pen).
When I saw the cool long-card sketch at Get Sketchy, it made me think of my Festive Snowmen stamp from Stamps Happen. The bonus challenge is Autumn ... and in Iowa, Autumn often means some surprise snow storms.
My designer paper scrap bin is beyond overflowing, so I also decided to try to focus on making cards from scraps this weekend. This card is made entirely of scraps of cardstock and designer paper.
The current Challenge at Caardvarks is to Color it! and paper piecing is one of my favorite ways to use up scraps and add color to an image (Tanis did an adorable paper pieced card for the challenge).
I stamped the image a second time on a scrap of orange designer paper to cut out all of the noses.
Next, I stamped a portion of the stamp on five different designer paper scraps to paper piece the scarves. I added white Inkssentials pen to the polka dots on this green scarf.
I emboss all of my images with clear embossing powder because I think it makes it easier to detail cut. Also, two of my favorite tools for detailed paper piecing are my Sakura Quickie Glue Pen & my Westcott Blooms 3" Titanium Scissors.
The red DP scrap is stamped multiple times with Hero Arts Dot Snowflake Borderusing Warm Red ColorBox Chalk Ink. The sentiment is from A Muse.
This week's challenge at the Hero Arts blog is to use trimmings. Today's cards featured scraps and trimmings that would otherwise be thrown away. This week's Got Sketch? card sketch is a perfect design for using up some paper scraps (especially those pieces I trim from a 6" square to make a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card).
I save all of my scraps from my 6" paper pads by tucking them back into the pad between the pages, so all of my collections stay together. These trimmings are from the Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses collection.
Hero Arts Holly Flourish Background and Holly Flourish Borderwere stamped in Versamark on cardstock scraps and embossed with Polysparkle embossing powder. The Large Christmas Circle sentiment was stamped in Currant on a scrap of white and embossed with the same glittery powder.
My snowflake embellishment was made by layering a Martha Stewart Snowflake with a second different punched snowflake ("trimming' off the longer pieces) and a snowflake that was "trimmed" from a Jolee's corner element.
The Everything But the Kitchen Sink Challenges have moved to their own blog, and to celebrate they're hosting their first ever sketch challenge, which was inspired by Courtney's fireplace mantel. The prize is a $25 gift card to Two Peas in a Bucket.
I had scraps of Basic Grey Marrakech paper and navy cardstock left over from my card this morning, so that is what I started with for my design. The squares are punched with a 1 1/4" square and the card is slightly smaller than 4 1/4".
I tried different stamps for my focal image, but couldn't seem to find one that worked. When I started rummaging through my embellishments I found this lone Prima flower from the Hey Girlfriend, Spring Has Spring! card kit, and loved how it looked with these patterns. I sprayed the flower with one of my new favorite crafting finds ...Pearl Glimmer Mist ... it gives a perfect subtle all-over sparkle. I finished with a tiny Hero Arts sentiment from Bird Greetings (punched with word window & heart punches).
PS - I was very excited to see my cards made the Fab Five at 2 Sketches 4 You this week ... woot woot!
Today's featured stamper at SCS is the very talented TreasureOiler. My design was inspired by her Friend to Friend card. I wanted a masculine design, so I changed the stamps, papers, colors, and border punch (one of my favorites, EK Success Dotted Wave).
Since my main image was a favorite sentiment from River City Rubber Stamps, I replaced the sentiment at the bottom with part of Hero Arts Graceful Leaves.
I've always loved Webster's Pages, so when I saw Ellen Hutson had 6"x6" papers in her shop, I decided it was time to take the plunge. This fun paper called Santa's village works perfectly for CPS Sketch 141.
I added stamped snowflakes, presents, and a sentiment from Hero Arts Clear Design Holiday sayings. I also added Distress Stickles in PIcket Fence and Rock Candy to the snowflakes and fun patchwork roof, and some Antique Bronze Stickles to the door for an all over glittery shimmer for the Hero Arts Puttin' on the Glitz! challenge. Unfortunately, the glitter glue lightened the Maroon stamped snowflakes, so they look a little pinker than I'd like, but I still love the overall effect. The finished card is 5 1/2" square (I trimmed a 1/4 inch from each side of the page).
I love blocked sketches ... I'm sure it's the linear left-side of my brain (where I spend most of my work day) spilling over into my right-brained creative endeavors ... but it's also a fun way to use scraps of paper, stickers, and other little bits & bobs.
The first sketch is Beate's Weekend Sketch #105. I will be storing this Sketch under my go-to designs... so perfect for so many occasions. I used a vintage Crafty Secrets sticker that I won in Vicki's blog candy for the focal element together with Basic Grey Wassail papers. I lightly stamped the Hero Arts Outline Bold Flourish (not sure why this stamp isn't in their catalog ... I recently purchased it at Michael's) on each corner and added some Ranger Tea Dye ink to distress.
For the second card I combined the vintage stickers with Crafty Secrets Christmas Time Vintage Cuts to create the entire Get Sketchy #13 blocked sketch. Since most of my elements were horizontal, rather than vertical, I flipped the sketch to make it work. The sentiment is from a very old K & Company sticker book.
Hope the weather in your corner of the world is half as nice as ours was today ... sunny, warm ... fantastic for November.
