Challenge Cards

This top card is my first-ever attempt at a card for the Unscripted Sketch challenge. I was inspired to give it a whirl by my friend Sarah of Sarah's Paper Tray, who is a member of the design team. Take a look at her box. It's so cute!

As for my card, it is very straightforward. In the mood for something Asian, I combined a couple of Verve Stamps sets. The vase is paper-pieced. The symbols on the side were attached to the card with foam mounting tape. I grounded my image with a colored pencil and Gamsol.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White and Desert Sand cardstock; 7Gypsies Sushi Journey 6x6-inch variety pack; Black, Desert Sand, and Olive ink pads; Verve Stamps Asian Flair and Floral Whimsy stamp sets; CTMH Say it in Style stamp set; Prismacolor colored pencils; Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits; Blending stump; 3M foam mounting tape.

My second card is my take on this week's A Sketch for You to Try on the i{heart}2stamp blog. I colored my image with a blending pen, using ink from my Hollyhock and Blush stamp pads. After the flowers were colored, I went around the outside of the entire image with the blending pen and Heavenly blue ink. As to add without distracting, I kept the black matting to a minimum. I also used Black Distressing Ink to lightly go around the little tag - just enough to make it stand out. Finally, what you can't see are the Stardust Stickles I added to the centers of the three large flowers.

I think this card might qualify for another challenge, too. In her post today, my blogging buddy Alanna at Alanna's Spot in the World mentioned a new challenge blog, Pile it on! , and this week's challenge is to use three different types of embellishments. As simple as my cards usually are, it's not often I'd qualify for that one.

Materials & Tools: White Daisy and Black cardstock; Retired CTMH Winter Cozy B&T paper; Black, Hollyhock, Blush, Chocolate, and Heavenly Blue ink pads; CTMH Black Distressing ink pad; Clear Dollar Stamps Little Blossoms and Papertrey Ink Mixed Messages stamp sets; White Daisy Edge Anchors, Pink acrylic disks from Michael's; Stampin' Up Whisper White taffeta ribbon; Stardust Stickles; McGill Multi-tag punch; Dove blending pen.

Well, with all that, I'd better keep the rest of it short. I spent the day doing chores and then "rewarding" myself every so often with a little stamping session in my corner. Thus, it was a good day. I hope yours was, too! I suppose after the short workweek, the coming week will seem long - the price we pay for a day off! LOL. Until tomorrow night, take care, and thanks for stopping by!