Decided on this design for the Paper Players sketch challenge and combined it into the Double D challenge as a 2nd entry. Basically used up various scraps sitting around including a small piece left from my water colour efforts. I added a couple of thin strips down the sides to enhance it, but first I stamped the moon using an Altenew set called to the moon. I used two of the moon pattern stamps one with Forest Moss and one with cracked Pistachio on top of the light water colour cs. Took a striped embossing folder and dry embossed the white card then added a smidgen of peacock feather ink on top. Die cut the heart in same blue as card front and added it on top then added the small water colour piece before adhering it all to card front. Stamped the sentiments and played around with placement until happy to glue down. The moon has a touch of shimmer on top. I like how this ended up and am happy with it.

The As You See It challenge was to use these retiring colours in some way and I chose to use them for this card. Using a – The Cats Pajamas, thanks Gayle for telling us about these – free digi stamp and sentiment. I sized them as you see using my graphics program and then printed them onto cs. Although I used Distress Oxides to colour them these colours are a close match to the ones shown on the blog. I added some bling mounted it onto the red foil and then onto the soft suede card front. There is a bit of sparkle for the hearts and the cats eyes but it doesn’t show in the photo.

This is another of my water colour pieces and for this one I die cut the negative leaf shape added some dimensionals to the back and popped it up onto another water colour piece. Although it isn’t visible in the photo the part that shows through is very sparkly. I added a line of bling to emphasize the leaf shape and a die cut butterfly (Altenew). Sentiment is from GKD and the leaf die cut is from SSS. I’ve used the positive die cut leaf on another card which I’ll probably post tomorrow.

I’ve been into making some water colour backgrounds this week and this is one of my panels. I cut it to the size and then stamped the images in black and one bird in pink. Using some perfect pearls I painted in the white shimmer so the flowers stand out and then stamped it again so the details were more apparent. It was deliberate to offset the 2nd stamping slightly. Stamp set is a new to me, GKD set called Birds and Blossoms 2. I mounted this onto some sparkle cs and then onto the card front. I’m happy with how this turned out.

At Double D the challenge tells us we have to have something with M in the card and the Mod squad just wants a nature scene. Nice to be able to combine these two challenges with one card. My scene contains mountains so there is my ‘M’ and definitely this is nature.

I began by using some of Bonnie’s text vellum paper so I could create the background and basically the card is a CASE of something seen long ago on StampTV. I liked it so much I saved it with the intention of creating something like it one day. To get the sandy looking savanna I swiped Distress Oxide Frayed Burlap across the bottom and painted in a small amount of Tea Dye so it looked more natural. Using a small wooden block stamp and Forest Moss ink I stamped in the grasses. I don’t have any stamps with mountains so decided to hand draw them in and used Black soot to colour. Then I added some clouds using Tumbled Glass and my cloud template another gift from Bonnie. (Where would we be without her constant generosity?) I added a hint of pink with Spun sugar. Using a Hero Arts die from their Jungle set I cut out the elephant and coloured with water colour pencils. I cut several out of scraps and glued together so I could pop him up from the background and I added the fussy cut grass at his feet. Before gluing him I realized that the scene needed a tree so I found one in a GKD set called Framescape and stamped it in black. Mounted the background onto some blue cs and then onto some pink before adding to card front.

Trying to get as close to the colour choices as possible I made a watercolour background, splattered it and left it to dry overnight. Using a small red rubber GKD stamp (one of my first purchases) I stamped the image and sentiment, matting them as shown. I also added a tiny amount of pink to the petals of the flowers. An uncomplicated card that ended up being something I like myself. Always a bonus when I like my own stuff – lol.

For the colour challenge at Sunday Stamps there were five colour choices and I managed three of them in this card. I really wanted that grainy textured look so I used watercolour paper and stamped the poppies several times. In addition I took one of the GKD Vogue vases stamped and fussy cut it adding a gold edge and a green poppy to the vase. With an unbranded poppy die I cut out the flowers and sponged on some colour then cut a few of them to glue into the vase. The sentiment if from another poppy set by GKD received as an incentive. Mounted onto GKD CS. It isn’t quite what I had in my head but I like it nevertheless.

So these are the two cards that I tried initially for the Card Concept challenge and they almost ended up in the trash. Being persistent in trying to use my mistakes these are the results. On the circles I used some left over card strips, leftover hearts and also the original banner. The hearts help to hide ink spots. The other one started out with me accidentally cutting the die cut so it looked very messy. I had originally decided to add a flap but with the error in cutting I couldn’t cover up the mess very easily. In the end I used these half labels together like a pocket and I added the fussy cut pots on top with a bit of bling. I added a line of bling at the top of the card to also hide the cut along that edge. Not my best cards but not my worst either.

Based on the definitions I would say this is a clean and layered card. I really struggled with this challenge as the photo image is so patriotic and I’m not American. After some thought and a couple of initial tries, I came up with this using a GKD stamp set called Mandala Maker and distress oxides. I stamped the design using the same stamp in the two colours and then choosing a smaller stamp did the same thing. I added the light blue strip of mirri card, die cut the banner and the hearts using up paper scraps, stamped the sentiment from another GKD set and played until I had the hearts positioned as shown. I would say that the colours and the hearts became the inspiration for this one.

Using up a few scraps I made an additional card with the Koi die from PoppyStamps. After die cutting the fish I brushed a bit of colour in rusty hinge and then remembered I had perfect pearls in the coppery colour. I brushed that on while the ink was still slightly wet so I got the shine for the scales and a depth of colour in other places. The rings were left from other projects and I sponged colour onto them and then used perfect pearls in the blue and the green to get shine and depth. Once the strip was added in the center I played with the rings until happy with placement and glued them. I left just enough loose so I could tuck the fish into the rings as you see on the photo. Added the word from a GKD set and am entering it into challenges. Just under the wire for the sketch challenge at CAS, and a second card for Paper Players.