AiFactory Challenge 7

Hello everyone and welcome to another week of AiFactory challenges. This week, De gave us a sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping seen HERE. The design team could use one of two sets for this challenge; Hand Drawn Wings or Sweet Pea Fairies. I used the fairies since I've used the wings on my blog before.

This card is really colorful in the background because I don't have fine enough pens to color the image at the size I wanted it to be. I know, I know, I could have made the image bigger but then it wouldn't the the proportion that I wanted. I did use Star Dust Stickles of the entire image panel to give it some zing. The card is DCWV and the DP is from the SU prints pack.

Please go to the AiFactory challenge blog for details and check out the DT!

Angie
Ashley
Carole
Elizabeth
Erin
Kerry
Lola
Mia
AiFactory Challenge Blog (LINK POSTS HERE)

Limelight Sketch

I made this card for the Limelight sketch challenge on the Limelight Blog.  I'm super late though, I had to wait until Brady went to bed so hopefully, I made the deadline.  The product spotlight this time was metallic elements.

I have to say, I received my FIRST Limelight order this week.  I know!  Where have I been?  Well, I don't know.  But Mandy had a 15% off coupon which might still be on the site if you hurry.  Also, she's having a special where you get a plastic Easter egg with your purchase and they have prizes inside.  This offer is good until Easter.  Wanna know what was in my egg?  It was a voucher for THREE FREE bottles of Stickles!  Glitter heaven!!!  And my order got to me within 3 days!  WOW!

On to my card, my first ever circle card.  I used Pink Cat Studio's Dress Up Sweet Pea set that I got from Limelight.  I really felt like making a baby card today.  I stamped him on cream paper and cut him out.  I stamped the box on white paper and cut that out.  I added some star brads for my metallic element and some Baby Blue Stickles.  

Happy Monday Friends!

Weekend Sketches

The most glorious thing happened yesterday.  My hubby took Brady to the park and I was left ALONE for about two hours.  Do you have any idea what it feels like after spending the last 15 months with someone CONSTANTLY by your side?  I'm feeling very refreshed and my mojo is up.

I decided to do a few weekend sketch challenges.  I like sketches, they give me direction.  I love direction, I'm lost without it.  Pun very much intended.  

The first sketch is for Beate's weekend sketch challenge.  I am SO in love with this Ghandi quote!  Unity's quote single stamps are some of my 
favorites!  I just love them!  I wish I could have every single one.  And since Beate's sketch asks for a little square in the front I spent a good while racking my brain.  I thought about putting a flower, a butterfly or even a tree there.  And then it hit me, "THE WORLD."  Duh Ashley!  Sometimes I am so slow.  So, here's the adorable Earth from Unity's Eco Chic.

Ok, my next card is something totally different.  This is for Jen del Muro's sketch for you to try.  This week it is sponsored by Stamping Bella.  I got some Bellas in a swap a while back.  I've never used one before but I decided that she's rather sassy.  She's wearing a brown halter top, brown boots, some dark denim jeans, and a cute little hot pink apron.  Cute huh?  She even decorated her cake herself!  

2S4Y+Caardvarks=LOVE

The current Caardvarks challenge is CRAZY!  They have sketches from Laura and Kazan from 2 Sketches 4 You that we should give our interpretation on.  The prize is a guest design team spot, how cool is that!

I also combined this with Judy's Dare to Get Dirty ribbon challenge.  You can read more about DTGD here.  So, it's actually three challenges in one.  Woohoo me!  Way to multi-task!  Personally, I am in LOVE with this card.  

Basic Recipe:

Stamps: Studio G sentiment

Paper: cream, pink CS, Sandylion pink DP, Sassafrasslass Flower DP

Ink: Stazon Jet Black

Accessories: ribbon, paper flowers, brad, decorative scissors, gel pen

First Design Team Application

Laura and Kazan over at 2 Sketches 4 You are currently looking for a design team.  Though I have seen a couple design team applications on the internet lately, I had yet to apply for one.  Some where just too far away (required me to drive about an hour from here) and some just were right for me (more scrapping, not so much card making) but this one was just right.  So, here are the cards I made for their sketches.

This first card I made for Kazan's sketch.  I won't bore you with all the details, but I will just like some things about this card that are a bit different.  The pink ribbon at the top is actually tied into the card.  I punched holes in the card and tied it.  I think this gives a nice and different effect.  The ribbon along the bottom has little pieces of ribbon tied to it.  I actually took this off of a package I had gotten, the ribbon had lots of kinks in it so I cut it into small pieces.  I'm all about reusing.  
This second card was made for Laura's sketch.  The heart is actually chipboard.  I covered it with paper and punched two holes in it to make it look like a giant button.  I used the other little buttons to repeat the idea.  Also, I asked my friend Jenny of JennyBunnyCreations to make me these ADORABLE hat pins to use on my cards.  Isn't it lovely?  You can't really see it, but there's a little clear bead up top and then below that, there's a pink bead with beautiful bead caps.  

So, wish me luck!  Hopefully, I can finally start designing for someone else.  That would be awesome.  Maybe then, more people (namely my husband) will start believing that I can actually make a living out of my paper crafts.

Laura's Sketch #4

This is the first time I've blogged about the sketches over at 2 Sketches 4 You.  Every week they have a new sketch for you to try with prizes and everything!  It's super fun and a great way to get out of your comfort zone.

At first, I didn't really like this sketch.  The way it was split up didn't make sense to me.  I didn't know where my main  image should go.  I didn't know where the sentiment should go.  But all the sudden it clicked and I'm kind of in love with this card.  It all started with the pretty DP I got out of a grab bag.  I built the entire card around that.

Here, I've used half circles made with my 1 inch circle punch to create a scalloped type effect.  I wanted something a bit bigger than what I usually do.  Then I took a scalloped circle and cut it in half for my sentiment, so that the idea repeats itself.  I also colored the bottoms of some dew drops red with Sharpie which I learned to do from Lauren Meader's blog.

Basic Recipe:

Paper: White, pink, red CS, DP (I have no idea what it is)

Stamps: Inkadinkado Birds Galore, SU Warm Words

Ink: Memories Crimson

Accessories: dew drops, scalloped punch, circle punch, gel pen

Hula Friends!

Here is the card I made for this week's SCS sketch challenge.  I really like the sketch and I'm about to make another one.  It's very much my style.

I found these Mari and Me stamps at my local scrapbook store, Scrap-n-Stamp.  I just love them!  They have Hawaiian kids, Asian kids, and lots of Asian things like bamboo and stuff.  They are just so cute!  I'm hoping that next time I go to Scrap-N-Stamp, I'll be able to order a couple of these.  

I had a lot of fun coloring this.  I hope to get progressively better at coloring though.  I'm not the best at it.  It makes me feel like a kid again with my markers and my coloring sheet.  

Basic Recipe:

Stamp: Mari and Me

Ink: Stazon Jet Black

Paper: Yellow, white, orange-yellow CS, Memory Box DP (background), Target $1 DP (strip)

Accessories: Prima Flowers, Brads, markers

Sketch Challenge Progress

I am working away at those sketches I told you about.  I am currently on #27, but I've been making other cards here and there as well.  Sometimes, I just can't be confined to a sketch.

This is #11.  I really like how it turned out.  It's hard to see in the picture, but all the pink paper was stamped with a background flower and then green was put on top with a different stamp.  My new "thing" is using a plain strip of paper as embellishment.  I think the idea of it to break up the card AND it uses up my scraps.  

Basic Recipe:

Paper: Making Memories DP, green and pink CS, green textured CS

Stamps: Autumn Leaves Clear flower, SU Delight in Life

Ink: Pixie Pink, Green Galore

Accessories: Ribbon, Kaiser flower, rhinestone, brad, corner rounder, circle punch

WCS52 Baby Boy Card

This is for Beate's weekend sketch challenge.  I actually did this sketch a couple times and nothing is really gelling with me.  But I figure, I should at least post it and show that I did it.  

I made a baby card since so many of my friends are pregnant right now and I imagine that more and more of them will be in the near future.  It's a simple and easy card, but I think it's nice enough to give to someone.

Here's the basic recipe:

Paper: Yellow and white card stock, 2 kinds of Designer Paper

Ink: Basic Black

Stamps: Baby Talk and $1 stamp from Michael's

Sketch Challenge

So, I've gone completely nuts and I've decided that I want do all the sketches from the Wednesday Split Coast challenges. No biggie, there's just 179 of them with a new one being added each week. What have I gotten myself into?

But I really feel like I need some sort of challenge right now. I need something to complete. I need something to push me. Hopefully, this will do the trick. I am currently half way through sketch #3. (It's ok if you are currently laughing, I'm fine with it.) Maybe it will get easier as I go on. Who knows?

I will be working my way up from sketch #1. I will probably go out of order once a week so that I can do the current sketch. It's nice to talk about it with people that are doing the same thing. Also, all our blogs will match. Hehe! Wish me luck!

Flowering Heart

I made this card for a sketch challenge on Split Coast. I actually had a really hard time making this sketch look nice. I don't really know why. This is actually one of three cards I made with this sketch.

For this sketch, I wanted something really nice and eye catching for the focal point. I traded (on Etsy) for some chipboard a while back and thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to use it. For some reason, I really fell in love with the idea of covering the chipboard in these little flower punches that I have. The only thing that bugs me a little about this is; to make this look more like a heart, I trimmed the middle part. So, a flower or two is missing some petals. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

This is just a piece of white card stock as the base. I covered the front in scrapbook paper. I trimmed the two stripes I guess you would call them in brown card stock and layered on some sheer white ribbon. I put my little flowering heart on top. Pretty simple but the heart did take a long time to make. This is a no stamping card which is pretty different for me these days.