SCS and Saturday Sketch

What a wonderful long weekend. I'm so thankful for the small gifts :O) I really just needed a little time off...one extra day should do it. My husband on the other hand...is on vacation to England for two weeks! I'm definitely envious of him. I LOVED England when my daughter and I lived there! I can't wait to visit again someday.

So, onto the fun stuff :O)

Lauren Meader's Saturday Sketch Challenge:

The sketch Lauren came up with this weekend was amazing as usual. I decided to create a Get Well card for a friend at work who just underwent surgery. I love pink and brown together when they contain the right mix of each...and I really like the In Full Bloom set from Stampin' Up! even thought it's a little dated :O) This is my first stab at the watercolor pencils...and I like the results! They're very easy to use. Instead of the aqua pen, I used a blender pen. They seem to have the same effect with less liquid. I used the large end of a stylus to dry emboss the dots on the vellum. I'm sure there's an easier way to come up with this effect but I haven't found it yet. I was hoping to find a Sizzix Texturz plate that I could use with one pull of the handle, but I haven't found it yet :( The only thing I came across was the Fiskars embossing plates. Either way the results are the same.

The list of supplies can be found in my Splitcoaststampers gallery.


Splitcoaststampers Limited Supplies Challenge 181:

It took me a while, but I finally figured out the challenge thing on SCS. Sounds silly to those of you who are overly familiar, but it really wasn't intuitive! Anyway, I think I have it down. I created this card for the LSC181. The rules were pretty simple...create a card using limited supplies and a snowman! That's what I did. I think the snowman and the bird are adorable :O) Makes me yearn for winter...can you imagine? Hee hee.

The supplies I used are listed in my SCS gallery.

Hope the remainder of your weekend is safe and relaxing!

Saturday Sketch...Take 3

Okay, so maybe I'm only meant to post weekly...in response to Lauren's Sketch Challenges :O) Yesterday's challenge was fun! I love the design.

I wanted to try Reverse Spotlighting and my original intent was to use one circle for the technique to represent the circle in Lauren's template...BUT, it made the card look boring, so I added a couple more. I like the end result. I'm not sure what prompted me to select these colors. I guess I just wanted something the really contrasted with the gray. I think these worked perfectly...and made the card fun! You can view the list of supplies I used in my Splitcoaststampers Gallery.


I made this card earlier this week for a co-worker. I wasn't sure if I really liked it at first, but it seems to be semi-popular on SCS. The more I look at it the more it grows on me :O) The colors are my FAVORITE...but the end result took a while for me. I got stuck toward the end on exactly how I wanted to finish the card. The embossed flower was the perfect touch I think. You can view this card's supplies in my Splitcoaststampers Gallery also.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Get inspired and create something - it's soothing to the soul :O)

Saturday Sketch...Take 2

Wow...last week must have been crazier than I remember! I haven't posted since Lauren's last Saturday sketch?! No wonder all I wanted to do this weekend was stamp :O) I did knock out a few cards, but I'm only going to post two of them tonight. On to Lauren Meader's Saturday Sketch (on Sunday)...
I suppose I like the simplicity of the templates and the freedom to put my own spin on them. I didn't stray far from the template this time, but I did make the circle a window instead of a layer :O) Not hugely significant but a little different. I didn't know what kind of card I wanted to make when I started, so I just went through my stamp sets and waited for something to jump out at me. Stampin' Up! Fishy Friends did the trick. I have only made two cards with this stamp set and I think it's about six years old. Shame...

Anyway, I like the fun, carefree feel of the card, so I added the simple "It's Your Day" sentiment. I wanted to add bubbles to my pseudo "fish bowl", so I used Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects on the outside of the acetate. It turned out cute...though if the bubbles were colored in any way I would think chicken pox! I colored the fish using a Stampin' Up! blender pen and the ink from the lids pressed to the ink pads. I wish I had Pearlescent Watercolors for this project...I think the iridescent look would be completely appropriate for fish. My family owns a bait and tackle shop back home, so I remember vividly all of the fish and the silver residue the scales left. Unfortunately, I was left to figure something else out. I decided to color the fins with my silver gel pen. It was definitely silver but looked a little flat...so I embossed them in silver. I was disappointed that the embossing covered the details from the stamps, but figured it wouldn't be that noticeable behind my window of bubbles :O)

I also stamped some Papertrey Ink Polka Dot Basics circles on the turquoise cardstock to extend the illusion of bubbles. I like the black contrast in the ribbon and the squares. I can't wait to send this card to a sweet niece or nephew!

I made another card today where I derived inspiration from a shirt my daughter tried on yesterday. While the shirt isn't my favorite, I loved the flowers with sporadic sections of color. It made me think of the flowers in Lisa Johnson's new stamp set that was released on Sunday by Papertrey Ink...it's called Remember. But, in the absence of the stamp set that hasn't arrived yet, I used Lisa's first set, Flower Garden. It worked just as nicely, I think :O) I also used a masking tip that Lisa posted in June on her blog. She stamps the images that she plans to mask on acetate and cuts them out. I tried it with this card and it worked nicely. I actually cut out two templates for the flower I used because of the close proximity and the amount of flowers. I'll follow suit with future sets :O)

My list of supplies can be found in my new Split Coast Stampers gallery. Thanks for stopping by!

How do we survive?

...without internet?! You would think I grew up with this tangled, educational, inspirational world-wide web :O) BUT, we know that's not the case. I learned about computers in DOS-mode...which I suppose helps me to some degree nowadays, but that's neither here nor there. My dilemma last week while I was in New Jersey is that I didn't have interent access in my room. I could only link to wi-fi in the lobby of lodging or at the library. I must be getting really lazy these days, because I couldn't even fathom getting on the internet outside the comfort of my room.

So, lack of internet equates to lack of blog posts. I came home on Friday and logged onto all of my favorite sites to catch up. Saturday I awoke to a Sketch Challenge by Lauren Meader.
I've never participated in any "crafty" challenges before, but I thought, what the heck? I don't have a card that I NEED to make, so why not do the challenge and make one for fun?

I'm not exactly elated at the results, but the idea was genuine :O)



I first posted it on Splitcoaststampers.com. It's really a good forum to share inspiration. I love reviewing the amazing projects these talented members create. It also has great tutorials.

I guess I should share at least one more card with this post since I'm so behind in keeping up (does that even make sense?). This is a thank you card I made for a co-worker who was kind enough to bring me a lovely gift from Haiti! I'm such a lucky girl.



That's all I have for now. Thanks for stopping by!