A Fantastically Magical Day

I'm back to share my last 3 cards for the Viva La Verve challenge on Splitcoaststampers.  I finished these cards earlier this week, and just didn't get around to posting them.

The first card uses Charmaine's sketch for week 2.  I loved the look of this sketch with all of the different elements involved.

I'll admit, this sketch was by far the hardest one for me. I was set on using a particular floral paper, and the string of circles at the bottom would have covered the biggest rose, so I just put a few small roses on the left and let them flow into the big rose.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Verve "Birthday Surprise" sentiment
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Papers:  Cream, green, dps from K & Co. "Watercolor Bouquet"
Other:  Organdy ribbon from stash, Bow Easy, pink ball button from stash, Recollections mini roses, Nestabilities circle and petite scalloped circle dies

Card #2 uses Maureen's sketch.   This sketch is a pretty simple layout that could be used for a lot of different styles.  I think I might reuse it for some Father's Day cards.

Here's my card.  I wanted to use the coffee cup with the sentiment, but it was just too large of a circle to put them all together.  So I stamped the sentiment and cut it out by hand.  I wasn't sure if it would show up very well if I just stamped it on that polka dot paper.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Verve "Better With You" image and sentiment
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black
Papers:  Cream, green, pink, dps from K & Co. Brenda Walton "Small Wonders Girl"
Other:  Nestabilities circles dies, cream ribbon from stash, Bow Easy, button from stash, thin twine, Copic markers

The third card uses a CAS (clean and simple) sketch from Andrea.

 I like to add flowers, ribbons, and other embellishments almost as much as Andrea, and as you can see, there isn't a ribbon or even a mini rose in sight!  I used some bright and fun dps, and just stamped a sentiment in the corner.  There was a bit of smudging on my first attempt.  Somehow my hand slipped off the acrylic stamper, and I had a blurred sentiment.  I cut out another bit of paper, and then rescued the butterfly from the bad piece and adhered it using some foam tape.  It gives the card a little more dimension, so all in all, it turned out to be a happy accident.

Supplies:  Verve "Birthday Surprise" sentiment
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Papers:  white, black, dps from The Paper Studio "Daydream Doodle"
Other:  foam tape


Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

For You

Good morning!   Today I'd like to share a card that I made for the following challenges:  Just Magnolia and Hanglar Stanglar:  use gingham, Papertake Weekly:  sketch, and Simon Says Stamp:  Anything Goes.

Let's start with a look at Dawny's sketch for PTW.  I always love her sketches!

I started looking for a gingham paper in my stash and turned to some Basic Grey papers from the "Sultry" collection for my card.  I got going with pink, and the result is a very pink card! 

I really love this Tilda image!  I just think she is so cute with her nearly overflowing bouquet of flowers.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Image from Magnolia, sentiment from SU! "Elements of Style"
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black
Papers:  white, dps and dark pink mat from Basic Grey "Sultry"
Other:  Nestabilities circle and petite scalloped circle dies, Recollections large flower and mini rose, organdy ribbon, Bow Easy, Copic markers, pink lace from stash

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

ODBD SLC 109 Faith looks up

I finished up my card for the ODBD sketch challenge, so I thought I might as well get it posted right away while Ariel is doing some reading and not in immediate need of anything!  Plus, the deadline is tomorrow morning, and if I don't do it now, it probably won't be posted in time.  LOL

We were given a great sketch to use for this challenge!   I think I will be using this one again in the future.

Here's my interpretation.  I'm still working on using up that Brenda Walton paper, but the stack is getting smaller!  :)  It is an odd sized card, 4" x 6 3/4" which fits into a leftover photo card envelope from Christmas.  I tried to tell the clerk that she'd given me waaay too many envelopes, but she wouldn't take any of them back. 

This sentiment really resonated with me as I've gone through the uncertainty of not knowing whether or not the cyst was cancerous.  I did a lot of praying, and it was very comforting to know that I had a lot of friends and family praying for me as well.  I'm so thankful to be on a smooth road to recovery!  How very blessed I am to be returning to good health.

Here's a closeup of the butterfly.

I colored it with Copics and cut it out by hand.  

Supplies:
Stamps:  ODBD "Faith" and "Butterfly"
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black and Versafine Onyx Black
Paper:  white, green, dps from K & Co. Brenda Walton "Small Wonders Girl"
Other:  foam tape (to pop up the butterfly), Nestabilities, white organdy ribbon, Bow Easy, Recollections mini rose, Recollections pearl flourish

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

Thinking of You

So I thought, I think I'll have just enough time this morning to make a card using Jacque's sketch and get it posted by the challenge deadline.  I managed to get 4 challenges combined on this one card, and I am definitely feeling that my mojo is returning!  Whew!  It helps that these 4 challenges just happened to combine some of my favorite things:  colors, flowers, a great sketch, and some favorite papers.  :)

Challenges:
Just Magnolia and Hanglar Stanglar #157:  Use Jacque's sketch (I loved this sketch!)
Cute Card Thursday #218:  Use pink and green (one of my favorite color combos!)
Basic Grey Challenge #68:  Anything Goes (BG is one of my favorite papers!  I used papers from the "Sultry" collection, an oldie but a goodie.)
The Shabby Tea Room #115:  "Garden Party" (love the roses in the photo!)

Let's start with a look at the sketch and inspiration photo:

TSTR's challenge was to use the colors of the photo (pink, white, green, sky blue, and brown) along with a dimensional flower.

Here's my card.  The sky blue is a little hard to see, but I went around the edges of my colored image with the lightest blue marker I have to give it a soft edge effect.

Here's an enlarged view, and I think the light blue shows up just a little better.

Supplies:
Stamps:  image from Magnolia, sentiment from SU! "You are Loved"
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black
Papers:  White, dps from Basic Grey "Sultry"
Other:  Recollections large flower and Prima roses, MS leaf punches, Copic markers

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

Did they remove my mojo too?

I'm back today to share some cards that I've been working on for various challenges some of which have now come and gone with posting deadlines.  That's OK as it was more about just getting a chance to create something than to try to win a prize.

I had surgery to remove a large ovarian cyst (10 cm) at the beginning of May.  The cyst was not cancerous, thank God!  I truly feel blessed to be resting at home and on my way to recovery.  My energy has been slow to return, and with the doctor's restrictions on no lifting more than 10 pounds, no housework, etc.  I'm pretty limited in what I can do right now.  I had to sit with my feet up on the couch for pretty much the first week at home.  I did some reading, a bunch of napping, and caught up a little bit on the TV shows taped on the DVR.  I wasn't in pain, just uncomfortable when I tried to sit and make a card.

When I could sit comfortably for a long enough period of time to make a card, I started with the first sketch I saw which was Amber's VLV sketch for March.  I was drawn to the simplicity of the sketch and went with a CAS style interpretation. 

Supplies:
Stamps:  Verve "Everlasting Life"
Papers:  White, yellow, green, dp from Brenda Walton "Small Wonders Girl"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Other:  Recollections mini rose
Size:  A2

The next sketch was Amy's VLV week 3 sketch for May.  This one was a little more complicated for me.  I have been really wanting to use up the last of this Small Wonders Girl dp.  I had a bunch of little pieces on my work space, and I tried to make them work with Amy's sketch.  Here's where I started to wonder if my mojo also got removed.  I tried and tried so many paper combos, and this is the one I liked the best.  I think it's a little busy though. 

I added a little tag which reads "Wising you a fabulous birthday."  The flower covers it more in this picture, but it was the picture that had the most accurate colors.  For some reason, it was looking really peachy colored when I tried to angle it differently to show the tag better.  I had intended to enter this card in Papertake Weekly's "In the Garden" challenge but that one is over.  It does qualify for the Oldie but a Goodie "Things with Wings" challenge.  I used a little Verve butterfly, colored it with Copics, cut it out, and popped it up on foam tape.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Verve butterfly from "Chicks Rule" and sentiment from "Birthday Surprise"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Papers:  cream, green for leaves, dps from Brenda Walton "Small Wonders Girl"
Other:  Recollections pearl flourish, MS leaf punch, Recollections flower, foam tape
Size:  4" x 6 3/4"  (made to fit an extra photo card envelope leftover from Christmas)


The next sketch was Mojo Monday #241.  I had intended to combine the sketch with two other challenges:  Our Daily Bread Designs SLC108 which was a photo inspiration challenge along with Cute Card Thursday "A Touch of Sparkle."

I used inspiration photos 1 and 3 for the colors, the flowers, and the round shape.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Our Daily Bread Designs "Birthday Blessings" image and sentiment
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black
Papers:  Cream, pink, burgundy, dp from Brenda Walton "Small Wonders Girl"
Other:  Nestabilities, Copic markers, Recollection glittery flower, Tim Holtz edge distressing tool
Size:  6" square

With my final card, my mojo seemed to be coming back.  I used Amber's VLV sketch for May week 1, and found I had just the right pieces of dp scraps to fit this sketch.  I did another "odd" sized card to fit those leftover photo card envelopes.  This sentiment just really spoke to me, enjoy each day and take pleasure in the little things.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Verve "Blessings"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Papers:  Cream, green for leaf punches, dps from Brenda Walton "Small Wonders Girl"
Other:  Sizzix flowers 3D die, pink felt, thin twine, flower button from stash, ivory ribbon, Bow Easy, MS leaf punches
Size:  4" x 6 3/4" (photo card envelope size)

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah