MFT Weekly Sketch Challenge #469

Hello, friends and welcome back! Being on Christmas break is always nice because it gives me time to sit and create! Although, after making all those holiday cards my creative juices flow a little slowly. That's why I like to participate in challenges. I find that by looking at a colour palette or sketch can trigger an idea. And this weeks Sketch Challenge from MFT Stamps did just that!!

I followed the sketch closely but did switch a couple of things! That's the beauty of these challenges. You can follow it exactly, flip it around or switch out shapes! It's wherever the creative process takes you!

I used the second large Stitched Mini Scalloped Rectangles to house my little scene. I coloured the adorable little girl and her basket of flowers from the Bring Out the Sunshine Stamp Set and used the co-ordinating dies to cut them out.  On the scalloped panel, I used the Drifts and Hills Stencil to create a little grassy hill for the girl to stand on.

Instead of the clouds from the sketch, I die cut 3 hearts using the Infinity Heart Dies from Hero Arts and used my alcohol markers to colour them.

I adhered the panel and the hearts on a white card base with liquid glue and used foam adhesive to adhere the girl, the flowers and the sentiment. The sentiment comes from the Essential Sentiments Set and was stamped onto a speech bubble die with the little tail cut off.

I just had to add some white gel pen details to a few areas as well as some Nuvo Crystal Glaze!!

Thanks for dropping by! 

See you soon and...stay awesome :)

Laurie

New Create A Smile Stamps Challenge!

Happy Wednesday and welcome back! It's the start of a new challenge over on the Create A Smile Stamps Challenge Blog! And this week, it's a sketch challenge!

CAS has the cutest winter/christmas stamps and the snowmen are some of my favourite images!  I used the Cool Buddies set for my card today.  This set was recently "brought back" and I'm so happy it was!!

I created the background by white heat embossing some of the snowflake images from the set onto a panel of light blue cardstock.  I added Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink to the edges to give it a perfectly blended look. I love using this "cheater method" to achieve almost perfect results!

I stamped, coloured and fussy cut this cute snow dude and popped him up over a snowbank cut with a die I had in my stash.  The speech bubble comes from the Bujo Basics set and fit the sentiment perfectly!

You may notice the embossed lines on the card base. Well, this started out as a mistake as I accidentally scored the card base in the wrong spot. So, I went with it and scored every half inch and it turned out okay!

A few sequins and a glossy carrot nose finish off this card. I hope you found some inspiration here today and will play along with us. 

Remember, up for grabs is a €25 gift certificate to the Create A Smile Stamps online shop!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Laurie

Create A Smile Sketch Challenge!

Hello, hello!! Today, is the start of another fun challenge over on the Create A Smile Stamps Challenge Blog! We have a very cool sketch for you to work with this time around!

Remember, you don't have to follow this sketch exactly! Just go with where your creativity takes you!  I, myself, followed it almost to a tee :)

I started by stamping, colouring and fussy cutting a few images from the uber cute Best Bugs Stamp Set.   I created the partial oval scene panel by partial die cutting a rectangular piece of cardstock with a circle die. But, Create A Smile has a sweet die set that creates this shape perfectly! Check out the Stacked Pierced Ovals!

Before I adhered the scene to the card base, I used the Diagonal Grid Stencil along with Spun Sugar Distress Ink to add a bit texture.  Of course, a few white gel pen details add so much!

The sentiment is from the Best Bugs stamp set. I stamped the sentiment on a white cardstock strip. I decided to layer that onto a banner die that I inked with the same pink ink. This acted like the little flag portion of the sketch!

Thank you for dropping in today! I hope you'll play along with us! Up for grabs is a €25 gift certificate to the CAS online store!!

Please visit the Challenge Blog for more details and to link up your creation!!

See you soon!

Laurie

Create A Smile Sketch Challenge!

Welcome back to another challenge hosted by Create A Smile Stamps!  We have a Sketch Challenge for you this time around!

I love sketch challenges. They always seem to get the creative juices flowing. What's nice about them is that they can be taken literally or you can put your own spin on them!  Wherever the idea takes you is okay!!

I made a very bright card for this challenge! Like most of us, I have a stash of patterned paper that I rarely use. But I thought some of it would go great with the rainbow colouring I did on this card.

I stamped out those gorgeous hearts from the Colour Your Heart Out stamp Set, coloured them rainbow style and fussy cut each one. I used the second largest of the Scalloped Rectangles Dies on white cardstock and arranged all those hearts according to the sketch. 

I foam mounted the rainbow hearts and used glue to adhere the two smaller hearts.  Something else I rarely do is stamp the sentiment in anything but black, brown or grey. I used a yellow ink here and love the way it looks!

The rectangle panel was foam mounted to the card base, which I covered in the yellow polka dot paper. I added 3 clear sequins to finish the card off.

Thank you for stopping by today!  I cannot wait to see your take on this sketch!  

Remember to link up your projects on the Create A Smile Challenge Blog for a chance to win a €25 gift certificate to the CAS Store!!

Laurie

Create A Smile "Sketch" Challenge!!

Welcome back!  Today we start a new challenge over at Create A Smile Stamps!!  It's a sketch challenge this time around which was truly a challenge for me!!

My brain was definitely challenged with this one but that's the point, right?? Get out of your comfort zone with layouts and just go for it!!  

I followed the sketch almost to a tee except for making mine a landscape card.

I've been on a bit of a kick with my Zig Clean Colour Real Brush Markers lately so that's what I chose as my colouring medium!  All these images as well as the sentiment are from the new Stamping Friends set!  This set is beyond cute and just perfect for us crafters!!

I fussy cut each image and placed them onto a circle die cut which I then layered onto a scalloped circle die cut.  For the arch or rounded bottom part of the sketch, I used the Blossom Stencil and Peacock Feather Distress Ink, which was a perfect match for the teal Zig marker!!

I added some shimmer to the teal areas on the images and rounded the top 2 corners of the card base. I struggled with NOT adding any clear sequins on this :)

I hope you'll play along with us for the next 2 weeks!! If you've never used Create A Smile Stamps, I highly encourage you to check them out. They are super high quality not to mention unique and so cute!!  They are available at Simon Says Stamp and Butterfly Reflections Ink (these are not affiliate links) but don't be afraid to order directly from them. International shipping is quick and cheap!!

Remember, there's an awesome prize to be won if you are the winner!!

Thanks for stopping in!!  See you soon!

Laurie

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #212

Hi there, welcome back!! It's time for another challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays Blog!!  The past challenge was awesome and we thank you for joining us! There was a lot of gorgeous creations and I can't wait to see your take on this one! This time around, we have a sketch for you...

I followed the sketch pretty closely regarding the layout but changed things up by making a square card without flowers.  That's the beauty of a sketch challenge. It doesn't have to be exact, more so a jumping off point!

To replace the floral images, I used the star shape from the Fun-Fetti Fri-Dies.  This was super easy to do as the cut outs are already lined up for you!  I backed the navy cardstock with some gold glitter paper leaving a small border to create a mat.  

I cut the Friend Fri-Die out of white cardstock but decided it was a little too stark against the navy cardstock.  I lined up the edge of the die with the same gold glitter paper to create that two toned effect.

The navy and gold piece was adhered to a 3.5 X 3.5 inch square, white card base.  The small white border ties in nicely with the white part of the Friend die cut.

I skipped any sort of embellishments on this card because the gold paper really sparkles!

Now, here's how to play along:

Simply link up your beautiful creations using the "In Linkz" on the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge Blog.  You do not have to use CAS-Fridays products to play along or win!!  10 winning entries will be highlighted on the CAS-Fridays blog each Thursday before a new challenge is set to go live the next day.  In addition, Michele has generously offered up a $25 gift certificate to the overall winner at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps. And if that weren't enough, if the chosen winner has used CAS-ual Fridays stamps and/or dies as the main focus in the card, that gift certificate will increase to $50. 

Good luck and I cannot wait to see what you've created!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Laurie

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #209

Good morning and welcome to the newest challenge on the CAS-ual Fridays Blog!!  This time around it's a SKETCH CHALLENGE!!

I'm not sure about you but I find sketch challenges always boost the mojo!  If I'm having a particularly hard time coming up with a design idea, I will search card layout/designs and 9 times out of 10, inspiration strikes!!  And what's nice about this type of challenge is that it doesn't have to be exactly like the photo. You can interpret it anyway you like!

Here's my take on this sketch:

I did stick fairly close to the sketch. For the corner "stripes", I used the Tin Roof Stamp Set (which is retiring and at a great cost!) along with a small sentiment from the Somebunny Stamp Set.  I used one of the Bubble Box Dies for a bit of dimension and to house the large Love Ya Fri-die.  

I swapped out florals for hearts on this card which were cut using the Heart Board Fri-dies.  To add the colour to the die cuts I used alcohol markers.

A generous helping of clear sparkle pen and Nuvo Crystal Glaze completed this card.

I hope you can join us for this challenge! I love going through all the entries as it gives me tons of inspiration as well!!

Here's what you're playing for:

Make sure you upload your project on the CAS-Friday Challenge Blog before October 10th, 2018 for a chance to win!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  See you soon!!

Laurie

Your Next Stamp Challenge #94!

Welcome back, crafty friends! Are you ready for another Your Next Stamp Challenge?! Both the sketch and the colours are pretty awesome but I went for the colours (of course)!

Here are the colours. Such an array of soft shades.

And here's the sketch!

You can choose the sketch, the colours or mix things up and combine both!! You're playing to win a $15 gift certificate from the Your Next Stamp shop BUT if you use YNS products on your creation, the dollar amount increases to $20!!

I used the Fall of Colour Stamp Set along with the co-ordinating dies for my card today. This is an adorable set that has both outline and solid images and dies to cut to everything!  I chose Copic in yellow, green, pink and orange. To incorporate the last colour I used ivory cardstock.

I know summer is still here but I really wanted to colour up this set! And I adore those acorns!!

I thought I'd dress up the inner sentiment with a little selective inking, ombre stamping on the word "color".

A few white gel pen detail, glitter pen and Glossy Accents add some pizazz to the acorns and leaves. And because I can't leave well enough alone, I added the hand drawn border!

I hope you found a little inspiration here today!  

Remember to link up your creation on the YNS BLOG! Have fun and good luck!

See you again real soon!!

Laurie

Your Next Stamp Sketch and Colour Challenge #93

Hello friends and welcome back!! Today is the start of a new sketch/colour challenge for Your Next Stamp. You can choose the sketch, the colours or mix things up and combine both!!!  You're playing to win a $15 gift certificate from the Your Next Stamp shop BUT if you use YNS products on your creation, the dollar amount increases to $20!!!

You can find all the details on the challenge and the link-up here!!  Here's a look at both the sketch and the colours:

Confession: I don't usually go for a sketch challenge!!  I'm not sure why but my creative juices stop flowing when I see a sketch, haha! So, of course I went with the colours!

I used the I used the Little Notes stamp set and its co-ordinating dies to create this card. This is the most adorable set and one of my favourites!  I used all the colours in the photo to colour the images with copic markers. I added a bit of patterned paper that was cut with the Curved Scallop Edge Die to add a bit more interest and colour.  In retrospect, I think I would have used a navy shade instead to help bring out the colours of the umbrella.. :(

Lots of glitter pen and Nuvo Crystal Glaze was added to give the sparkle and shine that I adore on cards!

I hope you all have a chance to play along! I had so much fun with these products and colours!  

Remember, all the details can be found over at the Your Next Stamp Blog!!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!!  See you soon!

Laurie