Freshly Made Sketches #280

Good morning, crafty friends.

I've been working on spring birthday cards and was inspired by a YouTube video from Jennifer McGuire this week, as well as the current Freshly Made Sketch:

Jennifer was doing some ink-swiping with balloons. They certainly say "celebration," perfect for my 15-year-old niece's birthday (not too cutesy). The only balloon stamps I had were not big enough in scale for this sketch, so I decided to use patterned paper instead. I free-hand drew the balloons onto the paper with a coloured pencil and cut them out.

Then I popped the one in front up with a spring, for dimension and playfulness.

I used a well-loved Cuttlebug embossing folder for the background, which also serves as the sentiment. Some twine tied to the balloons completes this simple card.

Stop by the Freshly Made Sketches blog for some more inspiration!

Have a crafty week,

Caroline

Supplies:

Card stock: Close to My Heart white daisy; patterned paper from retired Magical paper pack
Embossing folder: Happy Birthday from Provocraft/Cuttlebug
Twine: Michael's
Ink:  Derwent Inktense watercolor pencil
Spring: Close to My Heart

I {heart} Gears-Atlantic Hearts Sketch #25

A very intriguing sketch for you this week, from Atlantic Hearts!

This one was designed by talented team member Anna-Carin.

Don't those gears get your mental processes going?  They remind me of the Blogger icon...

Here's what I came up with:

 I started cutting out some gears with the Cricut Artiste cartridge, but then remembered this awesome Provocraft embossing folder. It has all kinds of cogs, dials and general machinery. I've used it many times for graduation cards. The centerpiece is that wonderful clock, which fit with the circular sentiment space on the sketch. 

So I revised my "blueprint," went back to my Cricut and cut out some clock hands. The banner die comes from Simon Says Stamp, and the greeting is from the Puns of Praise stamp set by CTMH. Embellishments are from the Rosewood Mini-medley Accent Collection.

A little monochromatic, perhaps, but overall I'm happy with it.

How will you put your stamp on this sketch? Steam-punk? Organic? Vintage auto?

Lots of room for interpretation with this one!

Check out the DT's work at Atlantic Hearts--it'll be up tomorrow (Wednesday). Then you have until midnight Sunday to post your creation.

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:
CTMH card-stock in Cocoa, Bamboo and Colonial White
CTMH ink: Cashmere, Cocoa
Provocraft embossing folder
Cricut Artiste cartridge
CTMH Mini-medley accent collection/Rosewood
Stamp set: Puns of Praise (retired)
Simon Says Stamp: tilted banner dies

Atlantic Hearts warms things up...Sketch #23

Good Morning--it's October!

We are enjoying a couple of beautiful weeks of Indian summer, here in the Nation's capital.

However, this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge, made me think of bundling up!

Maybe it was the poinsettia in the middle...

Anyway, I went with the wintry theme, creating a snowy background with the Swiss dots embossing folder, sanding the raised dots, then painting the bottom of the panel with white pigment ink, for a snow-drift effect.

I chose to interpret the fish-tail banner as a scarf, using the new Ruby Chevron ribbon from CTMH.

 The sentiment comes from Very Merry Christmas, a retired CTMH set. I stamped it on patterned paper, matted with Ruby, then tucked it into a Lacy Rectangle Frame from Paper Wishes.

The wonderful grey felt rose comes from the Frosted Assortment-CTMH. It is mounted on a die-cut snow-flake from My Favorite Things.

*****

Off you go to the Atlantic Hearts blog, where you can see more inspiration using this super sketch, from the design team. You have until Sunday night to create something of your own to share with us. 

Hope you play along!

Happy crafting,

Caroline

CTMH Supplies Used:

White Daisy, Slate, Ruby and Desert Sand card stock

Frosted patterned paper

Ruby Chevron ribbon

Very Merry Christmas stamp set: S1210

Desert Sand dye ink; White Daisy pigment ink

Frosted Assortment (rolled felt flower)

Other Supplies:

Cuttlebug embossing folder

Paper Wishes Lacy Rectangle Frames dies

My Favorite Things snowflake Die-namic