Saturday, August 30, 2008

Cherry sketch

This will be a really quick post. as I am trying to clean my craft room today.

Here is Lauren's sketch for this week.



And here is my card.



Again, if you want to play along, please leave a comment here, or on Lauren's blog. Or, if you upload to an online gallery, use the KEYWORD mytimess03 .

And, be sure to check out all of the other talented ladies that have made cards for Lauren's sketch.

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Birthday Blues

Once again it's time for Lauren's sketch challenge. This time, I had to make a gift for a friend of mine who is just starting out as a teacher. I made the gift first, and then the card, so that is how I will show them here :)

Lauren is a big believer in gift sets, so she was part of my inspiration for this gift. I wanted something fairly quick to make, and not too "girlie" since the recipient isn't into bows or glitter so I focussed on using graphic elements and only one colour.



I took 10 sheets of regular printer paper and cut it in half to have 20 sheets of 5.5 * 8.5. I then stamped the circles from Shapes by Design in Brilliant blue along the long side. This is one of my favourite "go to" sets when I want a graphic element and not an image. I stamped the same image on the left side of 10 envelopes to coordinate them.

The pen is one I bought at the dollar store that fit well with the colour scheme. I also added some stamps and some envelope seals.



I wanted to use some small metal tins with clear covers, but the only ones I had were the wrong size, and there isn't a Lee Valley in Regina, so I went on a search at the dollar store to see if I could find a container that would work. I took my tape measure and it didn't matter what was in the container, as long as it was the right size. I ended up getting coloured staples in these containers.



There were five different colours for $1.00, so I got five containers, and used 4 of them. Two have regular domestic stamps, one has international stamps, and the fourth has non-traditional envelope seals in it.

The seals (see photo above) are cut to 1 * 1.75 from a printable sticky label that is a full sheet size, and stamped with the initials of the recipient, LF. To finish them off, I sponged them with Brilliant Blue Ink.

After making this gift, I wanted the card to also have some graphic elements and not be too busy so that it would coordinate.



This is Lauren's sketch, and here is my card.



The paper is from the Azure paper pack from Stampin' Up!, and the sentiment is stamped using Just Right stamps in Brilliant Blue onto Very Vanilla cardstock. I had originally tried the sentiment with white paper, but it was too stark on the card, and the vanilla blended in much better. The buttons were a last minute addition because the card looked too plain without them. As much as I wanted the card to be somewhat basic, and not too busy, I didn't want it to be boring ;)

All in all I think the card and gift set look good together and I am quite pleased with them.




Please check out other cards made by the other members of the sketch team.

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Also, if you want to participate, we would love to see your card! Add a link in the comment section, and if you want to upload to SCS, visit Lauren's blog for the keyword so that we can find your great creations.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Thoughts of you

Beate is one of the all time superstars in the papercrafting industry, and after a summer hiatus she is back with a weekly sketch challenge. I combined Beate's sketch with Kristina's colour challenge to come up with this card.



Unfortunately the photo isn't very good because it is raining and overcast here so I couldn't get a good natural light shot.

Here is the sketch I worked with.



And here is Kristina's colour inspiration.



She said we could use any colour of our choice as the accent, but I took the stool as my cue and used Purely Pomegranate. I may have used too much colour, but I tried and tried to stamp a rose in grey and black but it didn't turn out.



I still think that the black and grey are the focus, but the Pomegranate rose and ribbon add a nice pop. The rose is stamped using Maria's fabulous multi-step Kitchen Sink Stamps. I have no idea how she gets them to look so realistic, but they are GREAT!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Better late than never...

I had all intentions of getting this post up on time, particularly since Lauren sent out this sketch with LOTS of time. But, as sometimes is the case, life got in the way.

My sister left for England on Thursday, and the week leading up to her departure was full of packing and organizing since she is going to be gone for a whole year.

The other factor in my late posting is that I forgot that white craft ink takes FOREVER to dry.

Here is the sketch we had to work with.



I just recently received my Father Knows Best stamps from PaperTrey, and I wanted to show them some ink. Also, I thought this sketch would be a perfect time to finally use some square buttons that I have had for months.



In addition to the tree from Father Knows Best, I also used the circles and sentiment from Shapes by Design.

The tree was stamped on Kraft cardstock with white craft ink, and then cut out with my coluzzle. The edges were inked as well, and that is what was taking soooo long to dry. The circles from Shapes by Design were stamped in VersaMark on the Kraft base, and covered with velum paper. I was able to hide the velum adhesive under the Chocolate Chip ribbon, the two buttons, and then I only needed small dabs of adhesive under the corners.




In this close up you can see that I stamped some of the extra circles and cut them out to add some depth and dimension. The paper is adhered to the back of the buttons with Crystal Effects, and the twine helps tie in with the Kraft paper.

Make sure you check out all of the other members of Lauren's sketch team.

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com
Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Lauren's Saturday sketch

Sorry it's been a week since my last post went up. I was at the lake for a week from last Wednesday to just a few days ago. I had programmed the sketch challenge to go up on Saturday, and I am glad it all worked out. Now I am on my way out to a wedding out of town, so I won't spend too much time describing this card, but I may come back and edit it when we get back on Sunday.




Here is Lauren's sketch, and I used it to make a wedding card that I needed for today.



A close up of the embossed LOVE sentiment.



The same theme of ribbon, velum, and stamped daisies carried through to the inside of the card.




Make sure you also check out the blogs of all of the other sketch team members. (also linked to in my sidebar)

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Saturday Sketch

As I mentioned last week, the fabulous Lauren Meader does a sketch challenge every Saturday, and I have not been as active in participating as I should have been. From now on though, you will definately see a card I have made using Lauren's sketch every Saturday because I am one of the bloggers that will be providing you with a sample using her sketch.

Check out all of the creations from the sketch Challenge Team to get their take on the sketch. (they are also all listed on my side bar)

Alicia Weimen
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Kim Gasper
Mackenzie Bruckler


Hopefully by having more samples she (and we) can get more people participating in the challenge.

Here is the sketch from this week.



When I first saw it I thought of the lines as frames, and not colour blocks. It also made me think of a favourite painting I have in my house.



So I used the colours from the painting, and the sketch from Lauren to come up with this card.



The card base is Barely Banana with frames in Rose Red, Old Olive, Ballet Blue, and Chocolate Chip. The stamp was also inspired by the painting, and was from the $1.00 bin at Michael's. The highlighted martini is coloured with my Spica Glitter Pens and it gives it such a nice shine.

Please play along with this challenge, and if you do, be sure to link back in the comments here, and on Lauren's blog.