Atlantic Hearts Sketch #21--Watercolor Ombre

 Goodbye... summer!
The weather has definitely changed up here in Canada, and Day-light Savings Time takes effect this coming weekend! Yikes!
*RELAX* My hubby checked on the DST thing and he got it wrong! not until November...
Time to hunker down in the scrap-room...

Michelle and Darla at Atlantic Hearts have another great sketch challenge for us:

Love that ombre panel and the skeleton-butterfly.

I chose to interpret the ombre-look with water-color pencils, rendering a little scene of  summer colors at the cottage/PEI coast. The sand/soil really is that colour...such a contrast with the blue sky and vivid green foliage.

I used a panel of water-color paper, spritzing it first, to allow greater absorption and spreading of the colors. I overlapped my pencil scribbles for more color-blending, then smoothed it some more with a damp paint brush.

Kind of a nostalgic greeting. I personally hate saying goodbye to summer, but this would make a nice "farewell" card. 

The skeleton leaf is a new die from Paper Wishes. I cut it out twice in two shades of brown (Cocoa and Saddle) and overlapped them slightly for a shadowed look.

Here's the inside:

completing the farewell message. The big ampersand is a Paper Smooches stamp. A retired CTMH sentiment stamp set provided the Goodbye and Good Luck.

How will you interpret this pretty sketch?

Head on over to the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog. A new sketch is posted every Monday; Design Team creations are shared on Wednesday, and you have until Sunday night to link up your work. Join us for some creative and challenging fun!

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:

Water color pencils by Derwent

Card stock in Colonial White, Cocoa and Saddle (CTMH)

Dye ink in Saddle and Sky (CTMH)

Water-color paper from Simon Says Stamp

Corner-rounder (CTMH)

I left my Heart in...Atlantic Canada!

Hello crafty friends!

It's an exciting day here in the nation's capital. My first post as a design team member of the new sketch challenge group, Atlantic Hearts!

I'm so pleased to be joining a Canadian challenge blog, plus Michelle and Darla do a great job organizing their team and coming up with stimulating designs.

Here's the inspiration for this week:

The trendy ombre look really appeals to me, and I took this sketch very literally.

I cut a series of graduated shades of red & pink, adhering them together with double-sided tape.

Back side

front side!

Then I played around with a couple of ideas.

For the first card, I did some negative die-ctting, taking the the sentiment out of my ombre panel. Some pink baker's twine and a big button finish that one off.

For card #2, I ran the panel through with an embossing folder, and used the positive die-cut sentiment this time.
This one is embellished with a crocheted flower, tied on with embroidery floss and a sparkle button.

So here's my message to Atlantic Hearts:

for letting me play with you each week!

Now head on over to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. Monday mornings, you'll find this week's sketch and the rules for playing along. The design team's creations are revealed every Wednesday. This way, you have some time to interpret the sketch in your own way. I'd love to see what you come up with!

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:

cardstock in Ruby, Hollyhock, Cotton Candy, Blush and White Daisy (all Close to My Heart)

Embossing folder:  Sizzix

Die-cut word "Thanks":  Paper Smooches

Baker's Twine in Strawberry: The Twinery

Button & embroidery floss: my stash

Crochet flower and bling button: Close to My Heart

Ombre goes "green"

I am loving messing around with this OMBRE effect!  

Here is another card, which I will be linking to the Heart2Heart challenge this week: Go Green. 

My project IS green. Very green. And it uses one of my favorite re-purposed items, the corrugated coffee sleeve...

This sophisticated St. Patrick's Day card features a cascade of leaves from the "Harvest Happiness" stamp set (CTMH), heat-embossed in white (plus a sneaky shamrock). Then from the bottom up, I layered New England Ivy, Olive, Topiary and finally Sweet Leaf. I love the suede effect produced by sponging on the colour! 

The shamrock is cut using a Sizzix die. I tried stamping the sentiment from  Paper Smooches' "A Magical Spring" onto CTMH's Color-Ready Seam Binding ribbon, but it bled quite a bit, so I added a slip of paper on top of the ribbon banner.

I'm so pleased with how this one turned out!

Go check out the other submissions this week at Heart2Heart. They are celebrating March Madness, with a new theme every week, and some prizes at the end of the month.
I'm also linking this baby up to the Moxie Fab World Ombre challenge, on through April 1st.

Happy SPONGING!

Caroline