Zoom, zoom, zoom we're going to the moon

Hi there,

First let me say thanks to everyone who left me a comment last week I wanted to drop past blogs and say thanks individually but just haven’t been able to get to the computer. Why? well its been an interesting week. I had my youngest superglued to me for several days while he was feeling sick with a fever. Thankfully he is now on the mend. But the enforced time of being pinned down gave me lots of time to think and ponder the sketch Makeesha set for her challenge this week. Here’s the sketch.

The key for me is really to find a purpose for the card and once I decided that I wanted to use the sketch for a father’s day card for my hubby things fell into place. Since my DH is an astronomer by trade I usually try to do something that reflects that. Here’s the card.

A side view showing how various layers are popped up on dimensionals and also gives you a glimpse of the inside.

Probably the trickiest part of the card was trying to find two something’s to use as templates to cut the large half circles on the RHS. They turned out to be a Milo tin and a small pudding basin – my circle nesties just weren’t big enough. Hmm obviously I have a hardware gap that needs to be addressed;). Anyway back to the card. On browsing through my DSP collection I came across the retired Spring Showers and I really liked the Bashful Blue stripy pattern. So I decided to use this as the base for the card. I used my Classic Stars wheel and using Chocolate Chip ink ran it over the half circle DSP. I made the sketch circle element the moon, made by first stamping a little moon, punching it out, then layering behind it a large circle of vellum, overlaying a chocolate chip circle and finally a circle of DSP the same size as the vellum. I got the idea for using the vellum from an element Cindy Major used on a scrapbook page she posted recently. The sketch horizontal “ribbon” feature became a spaceship headed for the moon. I inked up the stamp in Bashful Blue and then rock and rolled it in Chocolate Chip. Using my Jumbo Outline alphabet I stamped “dad” on the DSP and then paper toiled the letters out and lined them up on the long vertical panel. To finish off that panel and the half circle one I paper pierced along the edges of both. Final details are three stars on the LHS with Bashful Blue brads and a chocolate brad for the spaceship. The spaceship and moon, by the way, come from a really cute clear stamp set called Space Ships and Robots from My Cute Stamps. Overall I am quite happy with the result – I really like the combo of Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip. Wishing you all a good week.

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Classic Stars jumbo wheel, Jumbo Outline Alphabet, Spaceship and Robots (My Cute Stamps)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Vellum, ¾”, 1 and 1 3/8 “ circle punches, Milo tin and small pudding basin, small Star punch, Bashful Blue brads and a small Chocolate Bo Bunny brad, Mat pack and piercing tool, Spring Showers DSP (R), Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge 9

Hi there,

Well this is my last week as guest designer for Makeesha Byl’s Inkspiration challenges, so I want to start today by saying a big thanks to Keesh for asking me. It has been lots of fun and I’ve loved the challenge. I would also like to say a special thanks to the design team members (Karen, Cindy, Amy, Renee and Kirsty) and anyone else who has dropped by and left me a comment. (As an aside if anyone has had trouble with that please scroll down and read the brief post and comments before this one).

So on to today – here are the colours Keesh picked for this week.

Yep I’m definitely sure I find colour challenges the hardest, and perhaps my cards this week reflect that. Yes two cards again – well I couldn’t only do one after the last three weeks.

As I started to say, while I am happy with the way they turned out, better than I expected actually, they don’t quite have what I would call “that certain something – a zingy – I got it right” quality. Anyway enough babbling here are the cards.

And a side view so you can see the butterfly that has been cut out and mounted over the first one, as well as a glimpse of the inside.

Well this first one is the girly one. I’ve seen some lovely meadow/butterfly cards and so I decided to try my hand at that. First using Pocket Silhouettes I stamped the “meadow”, then cut out a large oval from the stamped image and a framing scalloped oval using oval nestabilities. To balance the butterfly in the upper right I added a punched flower/filigree brad topped with a Ruby Red brad. Then finally to balance that and to carry the Ruby Red through I added the sentiment in the lower right corner. A little bit of piercing and some DSP basically finish it off.

Here's a side view to give you glimpse of the inside.

My second card is my go at a masculine card – one for Father’s Day coming up in September here in AUS. I broke out my new Jumbo Outline alphabet to stamp dad on some Basic Gray DSP from the hostess set in our new catalogue. At the very end I decided I needed more impact from the letters and then layered each one onto either Whisper White or Ruby Red cardstock. The letters are laid over some crimped Baja cardstock (which at the very end I ended up piercing the borders of). To bring in the Ruby Red I rolled my (retired) Builders Bits wheel in Ruby Red over some white cardstock. The base Baja layer was also stamped with the Canvas (retired) background stamp. The finishing touches are two large pewter brads and hemp twine which I pulled over my Basic Gray ink pad and some distressing of edges.

Well that wraps it up from me, please go and check out the other examples from Keesh and the design team members.
Karen
Cindy
Amy
Renee
Kirsty
Keesh

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted

Best Wishes
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Short and Sweet, Touch of Nature (R)
Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Ruby Red
Ink: Basic Gray, Ruby Red, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Oval nestabilities, Urban Garden DSP, Spring Bouquet punch(R), Word Window punch, ¾” circle punch, Scallop edge punch, Silver filigree brad, Silver and Ruby Red brad, Mat pack and piercing tool, White taffeta ribbon, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape.

Dad
Stamps: Jumbo Outline alphabet, Builders Bits (R), Canvas (R)
Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Ruby Red, Baja Breeze
Ink: Basic Gray, Ruby Red, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Crimper, jumbo Pewter brads, Hemp twine, Cropodile, Piercing tool, Cutter Kit, Dimensional, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape