TBS DT: Sketch and Christmas in July

Hello crafty friends! I hope all our American readers are having fabulous Independence Day celebrations. Today we celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.  July 4, 1776 was a monumental day in the history of the newly formed United States of America. Today we celebrate with parties, fireworks and pools. It's one big birthday party for the nation. Happy birthday!

So, with that said... at The Beary Scrap we're in the midst of our July Sketch Challenge. The design team is shaking it up a bit by adding a Christmas in July theme to our projects. Notice how that happens to go with our Christmas in July blog candy? Hey, we planned it right!

Of course, I'm ignoring the fact that I'm posting a Christmas card on July 4th...  but can't red and green be considered national colors, too? *grin*

This is Magnolia's "Tilda with Fir" and happens to be the stamp included with our challenge blog candy. Isn't she adorable? This is a pretty simple card made with papers that really seemed to do the designing work for me. They are from a Webster's Pages 6x6 pack. See the background paper? I used the front of the stack for this layer. Underneath the plaid layer is the "petit papers" logo - it's like getting an extra sheet in an already fabulous paper pad!

Card Recipe

• Stamp: Magnolia - check out the Christmas selection here. It's all on sale!
• Paper: Bazzill Basics; Webster's Pages "Waiting for Santa/Sweet Season" 6x6 pad
• Medium: Copics for skin (E000, E00, E01); Prismacolor pencils with OMS; Ranger Distress ink in Vintage Photo; Stickles in Diamond and Distress Stickles in Frosted Lace (on the white roses)
• Embellishements: Ivory Seam Binding; Mulberry Paper Roses in 20mm and 10mm; Killam Creatables beaded pin set; crochet flower from Willowfolk on Etsy; all others from stash
• Adhesives: Scor-Tape; 3D Glue Dots in 1/8" and 1/16"; Fabri-tac

Thanks so much for visiting today! Please join our Beary Sweet Sketch Challenge - all entries are eligible to win our blog candy as well as the $20 gift voucher! It goes on through July 14th - I hope to see *your* fun projects!

Cheers,
Susan

CLP #26: June Sketch Challenge!

Hello hello! Can you believe it's June already? Wowzers, the year is flying by! Can someone press the pause button, please?

So with June 1 comes another fabulous sketch at the CLP Challenge Blog. Yay! I just lovelovelove Chelsea's sketches, don't you? This month is sponsored by the Digi Doodle Shop, and they very kindly let me use their Rooster image.

When I saw the rooster, I knew immediately that I wanted to use a paper pack from GCD Studios called Provence. "OH!", I thought to myself, "I can make a card in a French country theme with all the delicious papers in this poor, neglected pack."  

Mais, non. Il n'était pas possible. Les tendances étaient trop lumineux et en conflit avec le coq.

So I decided on Websters Pages paper and dug through the vintage embellishment bin and found bits and pieces that work. I still have a bit of French feel (er, ignore the tiny fact that the bingo card is from Springfield, Mass... 'k?) and the rooster pops on the card. Whoo hoo! Or is that cock-a-doodle-doo?

Sooo, as usual I've put the ol' Susan Spin on the sketch. Most importantly, I reinterpreted the background oval on each side of my main image. The right-side clock fills the round requirement easily, but the left side charm holder brad thingy is where the "spin" really occurs. It's round, ok? OK?! Heh, it's round and it's my spin... I crack me up! (Oh, and I promise you the raffia lace in the background is not crooked, even though it looks so in the photo.) 

Please take few minutes to visit the CLP Challenge Blog and see all the incredible samples from the Design Team. Y'know, I have to pinch myself each time I visit to prove that I'm not dreaming up my slot on the DT. They are such a wonderfully talented group of ladies!

The challenge runs through June 30 - I look forward to everyone's entries!


Other Fabby Challenges

• CLP #26: Sketch
• ABC Challenges (end 6/6)- V is for Vintage
• Creative Inspirations (ends 6/1)- Distressed
• Delightful Sketches (ends 6/9)- Texture
• Charisma Cardz #21 (ends 6/2)- Going 'Round In Circles
• Opus Gluei #57 (end 6/5)- I Can See Clearly Now
• Pixie Dust Studio #24 (ends 6/2)- Going Round and Round

Cheers,
Susan 

DZ Doodles DT - Inspiration Challenge

Hello hello hello! Today is the first "official" day of the new DZ Doodles Design Team. I'm so glad to be joining these wonderful ladies and playing around with Diane's images.

We're kicking off our first challenge with a delightfully Springy inspiration image:

This is where my creative juices flowed with this inspiration:

I'm in love with every one of Diane's flower images! As you probably know from my ramblings here and there, I'm a big fan of vintage and collage cards, and I've combined the two styles here for a sort of Vintage- and Collage-Lite card. Hee hee. :)

The sunflower is made of three layers, with some of the petals cut off for a 3D effect. Random edges have a little sparkle with Stickles glitter glue. The butterfly is a vintage image with little wire antennae!

And now, for all the important DZ Doodles Challenge details! Make your project using the above inspiration image and post it via Mr. Linky at the DZ Doodles Design Team blog no later than Monday, March 29th. The winner will be announced Wednesday, March 31 on the DT blog. You could win 2 DZ Doodles images! Yay! Be sure to check out all the fabulous DT offerings for this challenge for even more inspiration. :)

Challenges

• One Stitch At A Time - Vintage
• Cardvaarks - Lacy Days
• Oh, Alice - Butterfly or Caterpillar 

My Card Recipe

• Stamp: DZ Doodles Sunflower, from the Summertime Collection
• Paper: Websters Pages "Soar Blue Skies" from Nature's Storybook, miscellaneous from stash
• Medium: Prismacolor pencils, Stickles, Colorbox chalk ink
• Embellishments: Vintage butterfly image with handmade wire antennae, a few pieces from K&Co's Ephemera Pack and the rest from my ever-growing collection of bits and bobs. *wink*

Thanks for stopping by - (and I really appreciate your comments *grin*)

Cheers,

Susan

Vintage Boy Christmas Card

(I can't seem to get the color right - either with the point -n- shoot or the DSLR. Oy! I guess that's what happens when you rush around like a chicken with it's head cut off.)

Originally for Chelsea's challenge, this little boy kicked my butt into the night last night. (Procrastinate much, Susan?) I didn't make the deadline, but that's OK. Chels does great sketches, and I'll work on the next one.
 [Edit: I *did* make it! I am doing a happy dance right now!]

Ok, here's the story: One of Matthew's co-workers requested Christmas cards for her teen sons to give their Godparents and a card she can give to her 13 year old Goddaughter. Apparently there aren't enough age-appropriate cards out there, so she thought of me. How cool is this? *Very* cool.

The girl card is going to be easy, but the boy cards present an interesting challenge. Right now I'm enjoying my Prismacolor pencils and stamps, so off I go to find teen boy images... and after loads of searching I really only found 2 that might work out. This "Vintage Boy" card is made with a Ladybug & Friends stamp, and is one possibility for the 16 year old. In the original stamp the boy is holding a bouquet of flowers behind his back (I masked them out).

The other stamp set is from The Greeting Farm, called My Guy Ian. I haven't ordered the set yet since I'm still on the fence and waiting for the lovely Lindsay over at Sassy Studio Designs. I really like her digital stamps, and she's going to try her best to make a boy to add to her Teen Scene series. It would be part of her November 15th Winter Release, and I won't find out until then. I have my fingers crossed!

Anyway, about this particular card:

Papers: Bazzill, Canson Mi-Tiente, Basic Grey and Webster's Pages
Embellishments: Repro vintage garland, grosgrain ribbon, MM Findings, Cricut "snowflake".
Boy: Elisabeth Bell's "For Someone Special" stamp, Prismacolor pencils

Admittedly, I thought the end result was odd, but he has grown on me and I love him now. *wink*

Cheers!
Susan