Hang In There

Card Positioning Systems is celebrating their 5th Anniversary by releasing a sketch a day for 15 days.  

This card is my interpretation of the day two sketch. 

The base is Kraft, it's my current favourite.  The designer paper is called Dragonflies from the Pink Paisley Butterfly Garden collection.  I've inked the edge of the doily with Antique Linen Distress Ink and finished with a natural raffia bow.

The stamp features Toby Tumble by Pachela Studios called "Just Saying Hi".  He's the cutest little bunny there ever was!  I've coloured him with Prismacolor pencils, and used a paper stump with baby oil as the medium for the blending.  The sentiment inside reads "Hang In There".

Also entering into the Simon Says Stamp Challenge this week, the theme of which is Animal Antics.

Toby's Bath Time

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
white card, white card and more white card!
white ribbon
adhesive
Toby Tumble Bath Time digi
glitter glue
Copic markers

Tools:
Sizzix Big Shot
raindrop embossing plate or folder
polka dot embossing plate or folder

When I pick a challenge for inspiration, it's usually to try and challenge myself.  I still have a lot of techniques and styles to explore, and I love challenges that take me out of my comfort zone.  So last week when I did a white on white challenge and created my Humbug! box, I felt a little like I had cheated myself. out of fully exploring the technique as  I deliberately chose a small medium so that the amount of white was minimal.

So this week when Simon Says Stamp had a white on white theme, I had another go.  It's amazing how different whites can be!  I used a pure white Bazzill for the base of the card, some plain white card went through the Sizzix for embossing, a white doily and white ribbon.  As this is a bath tub scene and there is so much extra white in the image, I added a little pop to the bubbles (I made a punny) with glitter glue.

I felt the key to creating an interesting all white card was either to be totally minimalist (which I did last time) or to have a lot of different textures.  The polka dot and raindrop patterns both suited the bath time image, and are separated by the lace of the doily.  Hehe the ribbon at the bottom is placed in such a manner as to hide where I have lopped off some of the original digi.  The original image has a puddle of water, a towel and some clothes, none of which I wanted to use, so I cut them off but that left a small notch in the lower right bath tub leg, hence the ribbon.

Challenges:
Cuddly Buddly: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp:  All White (except the coloured image)

Tea Time Card

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
patterned paper
co-coordinating card
Tea Time digital stamp
Copics
Blue: B91, B93
Purple: BV000, BV02, BV04
Toby: E31, E33, E35
Chair: E35, E37, E29
Pink Icing: R81, R83, R85
Inner Ear: E00, E02

Tools:
Scor-pal
Sizzix Big Shot
scalloped circle die
1" circle die or punch

Bundled with the June issue of Craft Stamper magazine came a free Toby Tumble acrylic stamp, which was designed especially for the magazine by Cuddly Buddly.  There is also a two page spread with gorgeous examples by Kim McFarlane the graphic designer who runs Cuddly Buddly.  Unfortunately the stamp was not included free for US readers, however you can get the digi from the Cuddly Buddly website here.  

This image is perfect for a tea bag card, a little gift card that you can tuck tea bags into for every day gifts, hostess favours, teachers gifts etc.  While I love making elaborate, detailed, labour intensive projects, I also like to have on hand a range of projects I can whip up in an emergency and still feel good about the gift I am giving.  This is one of those projects :o)

The tutorial for the card can be found here on Split Coast Stampers. 

Challenges:

Cuddly Buddly - add stitching
Frosted Designs - hand colouring

Sympathy Card

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
Toby Tumble Friendship digi
Copic Markers
Greens: YG61, YG63, YG65
Browns: E31, E33, E35, E37
Greys: C0, C3, C5, C7
Blues: B91, B93, B95
Script patterned paper by Kaisercraft
co-ordinating Bazzill card
ribbon
Antique Linen Distress Ink

Tools:
Sizzix Big shot
Nestabilities scalloped circles

Sadly I had to make a sympathy card for my best friend this week.  I think sympathy cards are probably the hardest to create, and I was tempted to create one based around around a sentiment.

I've always thought Toby Tumble had a rather sad face, and this particular image I feel conveys a very strong message of friendship, and probably says more in a picture than words.

In the end I used the image of Toby combined with a poignant quote:

“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares.” Henri Nouwen
 

Bee Happy Birthday Card

 

Technique:  Papercrafting

Materials:

card stock

Toby Tumble's Hearts and Flowers digital paper

Toby Tumble Just Saying Hi digital stamp

copic markers

Distress Inks

* Scattered Straw

* Dried Marigold

scrap of lace

silk sunflower

adhesive

Tools:

scallop border punch

scissors

The second challenge at Cuddly Buddly is Lace and Flowers.  I have a friend celebrating his forty something birthday in a few days, my 10 year old son adores him so I wanted to create a card for the little man to give to the big one!  With that in mind I wanted to create a card that was suitable for a young boy to give to a male, but still incorporated lace and flowers!

The background paper comes from Toby Tumble's Hearts and Flowers digital paper, and suits the image of Toby perfectly!  The lace was white and I have dyed it with the distress inks, and I have also used the two inks to colour the tickets which I adapted myself from this free ticket digi.