Inkspirations 31 - Sweet Always Birthday

Hi everyone,

I'm back this week with a card for Makeesha Byl's weekly challenge. This week it was a sketch.


And here is my card...




This took me two takes - although I was pretty happy with my first version but Miss 5 gave it the thumbs down, and since its intended as a birthday card for one of her friends I thought I had better have a second go. I did find this sketch rather challenging, its definitely not one that came to me naturally and as a consequence I did jiggle the width of some of the layers around but I figure that still counts. Being a little girls card pink was the way to go so I pulled out my Sweet Always DSP and found two patterns to mix and match for the different layers, then layered those onto a Very Vanilla mat and then a Rose Red base to up the pink factor. For the other three horizontal layers on the card I added two vanilla punched borders (Apron Lace - love it), and a strip of wide Rose Red ribbon. All of those were adhered in the right order (well the one I'd settled on ;) then sponged around the edges with Regal Rose and then I stitched around the edge of the panels with pink sewing thread. To finished off the card I added a flower/ sentiment embellishment, as per sketch. I punched a 2" scalloped circle in Rose Red, then sueded the layers apart, on top of those I added two Pink Piruoette Felt Fusion Too flowers, then the circle sentiment, another Rose Red fusion flower then a rhinestone brad. The final touch - some Old Olive greenery. The inside was just finished off simply to match.

Thanks for visiting :)

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Think Happy Thoughts
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Rose Red
Ink: Regal Rose
Accessories: Sweet Always DSP, Felt Fusion, Felt Fusion Too, Two Step Bird Punch, 1" circle punch, Apron Lace border punch (Fyskars), 2" circle scallop punch (EK Success), Fire Rhinestone brad, sewing machine

Baby Bear

Hi everyone,

well this week I'm back with a card to welcome a baby girl to the world. The starting point was to use Makeesha Byl's weekly challenge - this weeks it's a sketch, with a circle element - love those! And since I love to use DSP (patterned paper) I couldn't pass up the Just Add Ink challenge this week too. First up here's the sketch.

And here's the card


The challenge is hosted by one Keesh's DT this week, Cindy Major and Cindy added the extra element that you must use something you've been hoarding. Not hard in my case ;) I knew I wanted to put my button bellied teddy bear in the middle of the circle. Next I hunted for some DSP that would fit the pastelly brown/ pink theme I wanted to use. Having selected the DSP I then stamped my bear on and trimmed it out, then mounted him up on dimensionals above a contrasting DSP pattern. Then added a pink chocolate threaded button to his belly with Tombow. In retrospect I think the button is actually a bit too big. The bear is framed by a Close to Cocoa layer then a large Pink Pirouette scalloped circle. Down the bottom I added my most hoarded element a Build a Brad, had them for over a year and never cracked the tin. I used the Brad (backed by another hoarded element a Felt Fusion flower) to anchor the sentiment banner. To balance that all out I added a couple Felt Fusion Too flowers (letting all the stops out on hoarding now!) layered with a threaded button to the upper left of the scalloped circle. I couldn't go past using a new EK success punch I picked up this week to give a lovely border to the vertical sketch strip and it nicely echos the scalloped cirlce - I hope! I added two ribbons over the top of the Close to Cocoa strip. I tried something new for me, dyeing ribbon. I used a sponge dauber and my Pink Pirouette ink pad to dye some white taffeta - since I wanted to keep the pink/cocoa theme. Finally to finish off the front I stitched around the edge of the top layer using some pale pink thread. The inside is finished off simply to match the front. Overall I'm mostly happy with the end result - one other reservation, beside how big the bears belly button is (try saying that when you've had a couple of glasses of wine!!) is that the front is over cluttered. But you can't get it right 100% of the time and I do like it!

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Short and Sweet, Baby Button Bits (PaperTrey Ink)
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Candy Lane DSP, Circle nestabilities, EK Success border punch, Felt Fusion Too, Build a Brad, Pretty in Pink narrow grosgrain ribbon, White Taffeta, 3/4" circle punch, Cropodile, Sweet Blush and Chocolate buttons (PaperTrey Inc), Sticky Strip, Tombow, Dimensionals, Double sided tape

Three times a flower

Hi there,

the Creatalicious challenge this month was to use only scrap DSP (of which I have an abundance) and to make a flower. Deciding on the DSP, for me at least, was certainly going to heavily influence my cardstock colour choices. But I ended up going with Bella Rose scraps and here is the result.

Finally a sideview, its quite bulky not something you could post easily but good if you can hand deliver!


Which I've got to say I was pretty happy with. So the Bella Rose DSP was one of my starting points, the other dictated the card shape, which ended up being square. Why square? Well I wanted to make a large sort of flower medallion to go in the middle of a decorative square scalloped frame. So starting from the outside in I first used my scallop edge punch to make a decorative punched internal border. This idea I first saw back in May, on Aussie blogs, after it was demonstrated at the 2009 convention. In the middle I wanted to construct my flower, and I decided to have a go at making a fan fold flower. I saw the tutorial on Beate Johns blog, once again watching the video really helps you get the idea of how to make the flower. By measuring the amount of space I had inside my Kiwi Kiss scalloped square I knew I wanted to make my fan fold flower no bigger than 3 inches. This meant starting with a strip of DSP about 1.5 inches wide and 12 inches long, after I had scalloped the edge. (Remember the final flower is twice the width of the starting DSP). Luckily enough I had the perfect scrap to use covered with a tiny rose pattern. I made the flower as per the tutorial and then decided I liked Beate’s example so much I would make another smaller one to overlay the first. I used the reverse of the DSP for this one, a Kiwi pattern that tied back in to the Kiwi scalloped square. To finish off the centre I added a small Pink Pirouette felt flower and a large green (Ice) rhinestone brad. I layered the scalloped Kiwi square/ fan flower onto of some Riding Hood Red to provide some contrast to the large Rose DSP I used over the RHR base of the card. It took some scratching of the head to finally come up with the idea of offsetting the whole flower panel on the card base and then adding a scalloped oval sentiment panel on the bottom RHS to balance it out. Finishing details include piercing of the scallop pattern on the square, adding brads to three corners a little red pearl to the sentiment, some Kiwi satin ribbon across the scalloped square, tied with a hitch (?) knot and finally faux stitching around the outside edge of the card. I used white gel pen to connect the pierced holes, so the effect is pretty subtle but nice.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Oval All
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
Ink: Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Bella Rose DSP, Felt Fusion Too, Ice Rhinestone, Mat Pack and Piercing tool, White Gel Pen, Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon, Scallop edge punch, Scalloped Oval punch, Large Oval punch, Red brads, Red pearl (Kaiser), Tombow multi, SNAIL adhesive

Birthday Princess

Hi there,

well I'm getting this one in by the skin of my teeth. There was me yesterday morning thinking I'll just check but I'm pretty sure there is another week to go. Argh!! nope today was the deadline. Luckily enough I already had an idea in my head so in the scheme of things it may not have taken so long as usual to get this card together. Anyway firstly here is the sketch for the DT application for the new Creatalicious Challanges.

And here's my card.

And a close up to show the crystal effects and glitter.

For some reason I had Regal Rose and Basic Grey in my head and I also knew I had some already stamped images from Pretty Princess, which I borrowed a few months back from a good friend - hi Sam. Cutting a 4'6" by 4'6" in (12 by 12 cm) card base in Regal Rose I then layered that with Basic Grey then once more with some Regal Rose DSP (from the hostess pack in the curtrent SU catalogue here in AUS). I used more Regal Rose DSP for the panel just behind the main image. The central image of the Princess, which was stamped onto watercolour paper, was layered onto Regal Rose and then Basic Grey. The image itself I coloured in using only Regal Rose and a mixture of marker and ink from the stamp pad lid using an aquapainter (Except for using Blush Blossom for the skin areas). Once that was dry I glammed up the image a bit with some crystal effects and finally dazzling diamonds. The flower embellishments were made from combining punched flowers (Spring Bouquet punch) and felt flowers from the Flower Fusion Too pack. A mixture of silver brads and clear rhinestone brads were used to finish off the flowers and for the triple element on the side. Final touches include paper piercing around the two DSP layers and of course adding the sentiment. Which I incorporated into the bottom flower embellishments.

You may have noticed I haven't finished off the inside - I will, I just didn't have the time last night or today to get there. Overall I think it will make a nice birthday card for a teenager or may'be just someone young at heart:)

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Pretty Princess (R), Think Happy Thoughts

Cardstock: Regal Rose, Basic Gray, Whisper White, watercolour paper

Ink: Stazon On Black, Basic Gray, Regal Rose, Blush Blossom (for skin tones), Going Gray (to outline image)

Accessories: Regal Rose DSP, Felt Fusion Too, Silver and Clear Rhinestone brads, Scalloped circle punch, 1 1/4 , 1 3/8 and 1/4 (R) inch circle punches, corner rounder punch, Spring Bouquet punch (R), Crystal effects, Two way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Mat pack and piercing tool.