Tag Archives: Challenges

Mar 17

Sketchbook Saturday Challenge #92

IMG_3711_zpsd78238c0

How has your weekend been so far, crafty peeps? I’ve been working on something that some of you must be aware of already (Hello, email subscribers! Hello, FB friends!), I’ll be moving to a self-hosted website soon! Namely WordPress. YAY! Good-bye Blogger… :)
More on it later, but fret not, I’ll offer you enough time to find me at the new place, subscribe by the means of your choice, make yourself at home… I’m still polishing things up. I hope you’ll like it :)

I’ve got a new sketch for you, and I won’t keep you waiting any longer. I’m late already! Ouch.

The sketch was inspired by one of the cards in this post by Jill. I think I may use one more or so from that bunch, for the future inspiration - they’re all brill!!
Here’s my offering…

The papers come from MME’s Miss Caroline collection. The tag is a Glitz Design sticker, and I put some alphas there, as well as a Kaisercraft rub-on. My favourite butterflies from Hero Arts Antique Engravings, were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Copics.
Plenty of washi tape here as well, mixed with a button and some enamel dots from MME.

Apart from the Washi Tape Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, I’m entering this card into Tuesday Trigger: Elegant Emerald. Love me some Trigger fun :)

—————————————————

A few things to keep in mind if you decide to use my sketch:

- You’re kindly asked to save the image onto your computer first, and if you make a card based on it, please link back to this post.
- If you upload your card to an online gallery, use the code SSC92.
- Feel free to share the link to your creation via the Inlinkz widget, so that I can come and check it out!
- The colours/elements mean nothing towards the card. All styles, colours and supplies, as well as slight alterations of the sketch are welcome.
- A new sketch and sample is posted every other Saturday night (American EST time ~ or around mid-day Sunday Melbourne time), but you’re welcome to play any time! Just leave a link in the comments section after Inlinkz widget closes.



Mar 12

10 Minute Craft Dash #13

birds

What a joyful evening! Firstly, because with any sort of luck, I’m facing the last hot night before the much needed cool off… I’m so over the summer heat!
(I’m well aware that most of you ‘Northerners’ may silently curse me right now…)
Secondly, it’s been a super busy day and I didn’t count on making it to the bloggie with anything at all. Well, guess what… I did! Love the post-a-day thingy and how keeps a steady flow of sumthin’ that makes my mornings very special - YOUR comments! lol!
Please tell me it’s a good form of selfishness… *wink*
The challenge I was eager to try and kept me entertained tonight, is 10 Minute Craft Dash #13. Once again I found out that the more I give it a try, the less stress there is involved, or perhaps turned into a good and productive form of adrenaline high.

Traditionally, I assembled all needed supplies including a pre-scored card. Here’s the lot: WPlus9 Heartfelt Mix stamp set, Memento & Palette inks, My Mind’s Eye patterned paper, Studio Calico chippies and scraps of cardstock.

Which in turn led me to this! Easy peasy - once I had the whole design put straight in my mind, that is. Which is perhaps the trickiest part of all, ’cause my brain doesn’t like to think ahead much :)

The timing is not a revelation, but not too shabby either!

This time I also helped myself to a sketch, rs#54.

Thanks so much for checking out my little corner of the world today, I’ll see you soon enough :)

Mar 04

Today

Today I have two more cards for you. Neither of them is something I’d jump up and down about, although being half-decent I think they won’t make my blog bad either :)
There were a couple of challenges I wanted to tackle, and I’ll start with a Polish accent. Woo hoo!

A fellow Pole blogger, Mamajudo, has a feature on her blog called Lift Project, which is basically an inspiration/CASE challenge. I’ve been tremendously inspired by her and many more artists’ work (there’s a certain, artsy-layered-thrifty style to Polish scrapbooking / cardmaking that really appeals to me) and seeing the current inspiration (a card from Zielonooka, below), I finally succumbed to joining in.
Inspiration card…

…and my take.
I was seriously tempted to take in every bit of that card. I broke off by using a more vibrant colour palette (while still staying true to pinks), and applying some of my more usual style, which hopefully shows.

We’ve got Glitz Design papers / epoxy words here, dies from Spellbinders and Poppy Stamps, a Cosmo Cricket chippie, October Afternoon die-cut sticker and some washi. Plus, some pretties from the haberdashery :)
The colours that inspired me, come from CTD231. I haven’t played any of these, for what seems like forever.

The second card, I would definitely do differently now, if I could. I don’t do second takes though, rather move on to the next project instead… so lesson learnt, basically :) I think it’s overdone.
It makes me feel a bit grumpy about it, as it’s the second time I’m using the Mama Elephant stamps (Cup Of Wishes here) to enter their challenge, and each time I’ve been less than impressed with the outcome.
These amazing stamps deserve much better. lol

Here’s the sketch that I used. I turned it upside down.

The die is a Nautical Wheeler Doily from Cheery Lynn. It’s a bit of a pain to cut with my Grand Calibur, but totally worth it. It’s a stunning design. Again, there’s washi put to use, as well as flat-backed pearls (to act as bubbles going up from the cup), some roses & grosgrain ribbon. The little heart on the tag is glittered.

Tomorrow start the previews of the magnificent Waltzingmouse March Release, which I can’t wait to share with you! Until then, I hope you’ll behave 😉

Mar 03

Sketchbook Saturday Challenge #91, plus extras!

Hello and happy weekend! In full swing here, mid-Sunday here we go… bummer, I wish there was one more day off for me & hubby to enjoy each other while leisurely getting about our stuff! It’s still a really, really nice arvo, fleeting as these moments are :)
LOTS to share today, so I better get into it!

First up, a new sketch! It came to me in the middle of the night, out of the blue… I seem to dream a lot of my crafty creations lately, not sure why it suddenly started as I never experienced such phenomenon. It’s quite amusing… if not worrying…. haha!

I allowed myself for creative freedom with this one (the card isn’t anything like the one I dreamt of), mostly because I wanted to give the awesome Glitz Design Cashmere Dame papers, as much exposure as they needed. Cutting into these feels divine!
I did the trick with the layers, which I learnt from fellow bloggers - swiping a dark-coloured inkpad directly against the edges of the papers, to give them definition. Try that if you’re curious and never did so - you wouldn’t believe how much life this simple trick adds to the layering!

I had so much fun with this card, it should be forbidden… I spiced up the papers with October Afternoon and Kaisercraft rub-ons (I especially like the teeny tiny print on the label); die cutting (negative on the heart, plus I added the cut out shape right next to it… can you see??); XOXO cut with my Silhouette, blinged up and mixed with the bits of sentiments taken from a Technique Tuesday stamp set (Simply You), Cosmo Cricket sentiment sticker and chippie… plus some washi tape, button, ribbon & twine :)

I have one more card, actually. Sneaking it in with mixed feelings as I intend to keep my sketch posts free from other stuff, but I made it this morning (guess what? …after I dreamt it last night!!) and I love it so much I’m not willing to wait… lol

The camera is another Silhouette cut. Don’t ask me how long it took me to adhere all these little pieces on top of each other… 😛
I wanted to achieve an impression of butterflies flying out of the camera lens, and I used Studio Calico veneer for that purpose. The sentiment comes again, from the Cosmo Cricket sticker sheet. Love it. It’s one of their Tiny Texts and has some awesome ATC-style phrases that I dig so much.

It’s my submission for the Camera Craze Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. I wasn’t happy with my initial one, but felt challenged to give this subject another try. Again, not something I’d usually tackle on my cards, but boy do I love the fact that I did!

Lastly, I thought I’d include a couple of shots done this week, my FB friends might be familiar with them already :)

Love these photos of Chuplet, doing a little baking with mummy & grandma the other day…

 
This hangs in our kitchen / dining area. As much as I find these often too cheesy, this saying resonates with me so much.

—————————————————

A few things to keep in mind if you decide to use my sketch:

- You’re kindly asked to save the image onto your computer first, and if you make a card based on it, please link back to this post.
- If you upload your card to an online gallery, use the code SSC91.
- Feel free to share the link to your creation via the Inlinkz widget, so that I can come and check it out!
- The colours/elements mean nothing towards the card. All styles, colours and supplies, as well as slight alterations of the sketch are welcome.
- A new sketch and sample is posted every other Saturday night (American EST time ~ or around mid-day Sunday Melbourne time), but you’re welcome to play any time! Just leave a link in the comments section after Inlinkz widget closes.
—————————————————



Mar 01

Inspired by colours… and Joy

Hey you all, how have you been? I hope you haven’t missed any of the yesterday’s posts… yes, there were two! Trying to avoid it whenever I can these days, but sometimes you can’t go around… :)
I was also thinking about the lovely comments I received lately, and I wish you knew how much they all mean to me! I’m a bad commenter and so I feel doubly indebted every time you leave me one. I’m hoping for the day I will make my blog more interactive, and myself more responsive. In the meantime, whenever you have a question, feel free to pop me an email! Sometimes you leave one in the comment and leave no trail to track you down, therefore if you do so, make sure your email address is included, so that I can respond :)

Back to business, though! ‘Cause that’s what you came here for, right?? Today there’s a set of cards on the menu. My apologies for the first photo, not quite my best effort… the weather’s been funny today.

These are a brainstorm child of the PDCC171 challenge (graphics below), although I undoubtedly took some creative freedom with supportive colours.

The rest of inspiration, a very important part of it, lies in the blog of Joy, Less Is More. Love this girl, love her work, and each of the cards is to a large extent influenced by her style. I wish I knew how to execute the ‘less is more’ part as cleverly as she does. though. This is the style that I’m tempted to overdo if I choose to tackle it. Neither I do so often either, it’s making me push my boundaries and I’m not convinced that the results are always purty :)
A couple of close-ups for you…

Eeek, there’s so much stuff packed into these, don’t ask me to list it all… Pink Paislee, Basic Grey, American Crafts, Studio Calico, Prima, dies from MFT, PTI & Spellbinders, plenty of washi tape… and more, no doubt.
What do you think??

Feb 28

CASE Study Challenge #130

Sadly we’re nearing the end of the month at CASE Study, and it means the last challenge with Teri Anderson… how can have enough of her terrific work??
I hope you’ll all scrape off some time to give Teri the best farewell response, plus it’s a good opportunity to CASE one of her works, guilt-free. BUT that’s how we roll, so it goes without saying, yes? :)
Here’s the piece for this time around. A scrappy genius!

It was settled from the beginning, that I’m going for a “pile it on and see where it takes me” look as well :)

Also, I opted for a toned down background with a few splashes of bold colour and an overall eclectic feel. I used almost exclusively Glitz Design product, with two small, decorative chippies from Cosmo Cricket.

I took the opportunity to use one of my favourite past Retro Sketches (rs#45 below), since their current challenge is a “pick your own”. Fun :)

Click on the links below, for more inspiration from our Team, Muse & Guest Designer!

Teri Anderson - February Muse
Amy Wanford
Andrea Ewen
Christina MacLaren
Clare Buswell
Debby Hughes
Jean Martin
Jeanne Jachna
Maureen Plut
Teneale Williams
Sylvia Blum - February Guest Designer

The challenge details, as well as the Inlinkz list to link up your entry, can be found on the CASE Study blog

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...