retro sketch #6

Another week, another sketch :)

This one pushed me to create my first-for-this-blog (I think) square card.  And how fun!  I have a few matching envelopes.

I started out with a kraft card-base, and stamped the herringbone pattern from my clear & simple stamps background set (I'm working my way through it, can you tell? hee.)  Then I grabbed my PTI heart prints dies, and cut into a square of "dearest jane" pattern paper, and with a smaller heart in my vintage cream layer.  The thick embellishment is just 5 layers of coaster-board, sandwiched together, topped off with a brown patterned paper heart.... and a layer of glossy accents for some added shine :)

The sentiment is from lawn fawn's "making frosty friends."

Thanks for peeking!


ps, thanks for the sweet comments about my card photography - I've been having lots of fun playing around with different set-ups for each card!  The most daunting step can be the editing!  How much do you edit your photos?  What are your steps?

CAS-ual Fridays - the one with the matching envie.

It's the final countdown!  Less than a week before Christmas, and I have no idea how that happened :)  Luckily, the prezzies are all wrapped and under the tree, the Christmas cards were mailed out, and (for the most part), this week is for relaxing and enjoying.

I did need a few last minute cards for Sofia's teachers, and how fun to create one with a matching envelope for the latest CAS-ual fridays challenge.

I was inspired by *this card* and its outline-copic-coloring.  I started out by stamping the gingham strip (from PTI's "background basics: gingham") onto the card base, the white mat, and the envelope liner.  Next, the snowman and all his accessories (from lawn fawn's "making frosty friends").  Quick tip:  I actually placed my snowman stamp on my paper to judge for placement, then removed him and first stamped the top hat.  A mask I had created for the top hat went down next, and I stamped the snowman body over-top.  Remove the mask, and voila!  perfect placement, and no embarrassing lines cutting into the hat.  The sentiment is from PTI's think big favorites.  At the very end, I sprayed mister huey's calico white mist over the entire card-front... made the little snowman and his gingham border look like they hit a tiny blizzard :)  It's subtle, even in real life, but very cute.

True story: this was actually my first time creating an envelope liner.  A real envelope was sacrificed in order to trace a pattern for it...

The white mat was mounted onto the card base with foam squares, matching up the gingham borders... a little snowman was stamped onto the envelope-front.


What last-minute holiday projects are you doing this week?  I still have to assemble teacher gifts, and create some last minute tag-sets :)

fashion-inspired.

well, sort of.

Gap-kids-inspired, really.

I was checking out some Christmas pjs for the babes online and found this set:

So cute, right?  I didn't end up ordering them, but I was totally inspired to create a card...

I started out with the idea of stamping the snowman (from lawn fawn's "making frosty friends") onto red cardstock (in red ink) and then using a dauber (a circular sponge that fits on your finger like a thimble, from SU) to "color" the snowman and snowflakes (using fresh snow ink.)

I added some hits of blue (the pleated ribbon snow-drift, and the hero-arts plaid background in blue ink) to cool down the whole card a bit.  I also white-heat-embossed the sentiment onto blue cardstock, times 3.

Hope you like it!  It's a little, um, different... I wasn't sure if I should post it or not, but I think it's fun to see where crafters get their inspiration - and it's not the first time I've used the pyjama section from Gap or Old Navy for inspiration... hee.

Have a great day!

s-n-o-w

We get alot of snow in Montreal.  It's not uncommon to be digging yourself out of a knee-deep bank that just happened to fall while you were shopping for a few hours...  Canadian winter tip no. 1:  keep a shovel in your trunk.

I used to love the snow.  But then, and this will sound incredibly terrible, I had kids.  You'd think I'd love to share the magic with them, right?  I mean, I do - but not 4 months worth.  And not all the bundling, and the "I have to go pee" that inevitably happens as soon as you go play outside...

One thing I'll always love is building a snowman with them.  And apparently, you can't spell snow without a little white cutie in the center!  I was inspired by this card, which led to my making this one:

I used lawn fawn's "making frosty friends" and stamped that adorable snowman and the little birdie, colored in their little parts and stuck them down with foam squares.  The letters were cut out with my sizziz die, and adhered to the strip of different patterned papers.  The holly leaves add a cute little touch to the top corner.

Thanks for looking!

ps.  I'm featured on the lawn fawn blog today - like, just by myself!  I did a double-take when I spotted my name in my google-reader feed - crazy happy!

mini blog hop!

One of my blogging buddies (I love making blog buddies!) remarked on how many lawn fawn stamps I've been accumulating (not enough, in my opinion - they're so darn cute) and wondered if I had "clear to see" in my stash. I do, I wrote back, and it hasn't seen ink yet!  What to do, except invite another friend and organize a "clear to see" mini-blog-hop!  So, here's the oh-so-extensive lineup for our lawn fawn mini-hop - hope you'll check us alllllll out, and leave some love along the way.


Elena - that's me!

Joyce

Gayatri

Since we heard talk of early snow, I put on my cold-weather glasses for this one (groan, I know!)  I used the folded glasses from "clear to see" and stamped them repeatedly to make my own background paper.  I also stamped them to form the double "O" in "cool" onto my mat stack 4 shape.  The "c" and "l" are paper-pieced, and from "quinn's abcs". 

My winter-dude was completed with the ear-muffs and scarf from "making frosty friends."  I stamped the die shape with snowflakes from the same set, and stamped over the glasses on the background paper too. 

Thanks for looking - now hop on over to the blogs of my other cool friends ;)

Christmas case

I saw a cute little trio of snowmen scrunched together in a frame on the lawn fawn blog this morning, and I just had to use it as inspiration for my own Christmas card:

my favorite part?  The liquid applique on the smallest snowman's hat, so it actually looks like a fuzzy pompom...

Come back tomorrow to see more lawn fawn cuteness!



stamps: (all lawn fawn) making frosty friends, cozy christmas, say cheese
papers: patterned papers - SU, vinntage cream - PTI
misc: holly jolly die (PTI)

frosty friends.

Aren't they the sweetest, little hand-holding, stripey-muff-wearing snowmen?

I just got this new lawn fawn set and had to play.  I started out with a kraft mat and stamped images from the set using memento black ink.  Dipping a small sponge dauber into fresh snow ink (PTI), I highlighted some of the snowflakes and the little snowy bodies.  All of their accessories were paper-pieced on top. I added some glitter to a few snowflakes as well, by way of a glue pen and fine glitter.  The edged of my kraft mat were roughed up to add more texture, and it is adhered to a white cardstock card-base.

The sentiment is a computer-generated one - I thought it fit the bill!

Thanks for looking!