A Couple of Sketch Challenges

I spent way more time dinging around making these cards than I should have today. I'm gonna pay, I'm sure, making the old adage, "If you want to play, you gotta pay," true. Darn. Why are weekends only two days, and why, oh why, does the clock move twice as fast on the weekends as it does during the week?

And now, about my cards. This first one is my take on Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #85. The paper, again, is from Studio 45 with the exception of the Autumn Terracotta piece, which is just cardstock with same-color ink smooshed on it directly from the stamp pad. Prettier than plain ol' cardstock I think. As for other details, the butterfly was stamped, colored with markers and cut out. I wish Colonial White didn't look so white when photograph, and I wish you could see that the butterfly is dimensional, it's body attached to the circle with Liquid Glass and its wings bent forward. Up close and personal, it looks like its about to fly off the card.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White, Autumn Terracotta, and Black cardstock; Studio 45 Botanicals Collection Ode to a Butterfly paper; Black ink pad; Sunflower, Autumn Terracotta, and Goldrush markers; Butterfly Kiss and Happy Birthday stamp sets; Ribbon from Wal-Mart; Black mini brad; Cuttlebug w/Nestabilities Classic Circles set; Piercing tool; Martha Stewart Embossed Zigzag Edger punch; Liquid Glass; 3M foam mounting tape.

This second card took me out of the box a bit. I think I've said before that while I love the patterned paper I used for this one, it's a reach for me with regard to figuring out what to do with it. While my original intention was to stamp a flower using the Angel Whispers set I used for the stem, leaves, and sentiment, I got the idea to use a flower from the coordinating patterned paper. After cutting out the flower with a Nestabilities die, I mounted it on a same-size piece of chipboard. I also detailed (not so evenly I might add) around the edges of the petals with a Juniper marker and stamped the dotted circle in the center (or close) using a stamp from my Solo E set. The corner element under the flower was added after the card was "done," and I noticed it appeared something was "missing." Oh, and by the way, the sketch is this weeks A Sketch for You to Try on the i{heart}2stamp blog.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White and Olive cardstock; Cosmo Cricket Early Bird Collection; Chipboard; Olive, Garden Green, Cocoa, and Juniper stamp pads; Juniper marker; Angel Whispers stamp set; Stampin' Up Old Olive grosgrain ribbon; Yellow brad; Corner rounder; Stampin' Up Photo Corner punch; Cuttlebug w/Nestabilities Classic Circles set.

There are a hundred or so other sketches I'd love to do, but instead, I'd best get with the program and get some chores done.

The wedding reception last night was interesting. Because the bride is a daycare provider, a good number of the guests were little people - all buddies. It was pretty wild. Mathias, I learned, loves to dance. Following his lead, however, is difficult (an understatement). Bjorn danced, too, but not with Grandma. Instead, he found a little girl he didn't know and asked her to dance. Turns out, however, that the little couple's parents attended prenatal/birth classes together. Interesting.

Did I say I had work to do? It's time to get busy. I hope your weekend was great. I'm feeling fine again and am ready to go back to work tomorrow. I'm looking forward to making it a good week. Hope you are, too. Thanks for stopping by! Later...