MME July Sketch Challenge

I hope everyone's weather is a bit better then ours. I am surviving the heat by staying inside because it is too hot to do anything else. When pool water is 85 degrees, air conditioning is the only solution.

Today I want to share with you a layout I created for a challenge over at My Mind's Eye's blog. It was to scrap a layout based on the the sketch below.

Isn't it a cool sketch? I don't usually ever follow a sketch exactly but for this one I did. I chose to scrap some not-so-great silly photos of Char. I am so bad at taking photos inside and these happened to be taken at night. It was at her birthday party with her friends and she was being silly. It was nice to see her let her goofy side show!!

I used mostly My Mind's Eye Products on here, with the exception of some stamps. I had a lot of fun making it and am happy with the way it came out-even with bad photos.

Thank you for stopping by!! Stay cool!

Nora

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Runway Inspired Challenge Entry

I took a break from the card class yesterday. I decided to scrap and create a card for the Runway Inspired Challenge instead. I have browsed this blog a lot but have never tried to make a card for it. The fabulous work of the design team intimidates me and I know that my card will never be as good as any of theirs, I think. However, when I saw the inspiration piece by Stella McCartney, I knew exactly what card I wanted to created.

(Image Source: Style.com)

The first thing that struck me about this image was the whitespace. I chose to imitate that white space in using white card stock for my base color. 

I then pulled out my red, yellow and gray ink, as well as a piece of gold paper. I liked the hearts in the skirt so I went through my stamp sets and pulled a couple out that had hearts that I liked. I knew I wasn't going to stamp a ton of them so I didn't want the images to be overpowering. 

I added gray arrows to break up the design and some sequins to mimic the bling on the skirt. I punched a strip of gold card stock with a scallop punch and adhered it to the card. I will let you in on a little secret too-I only had a tiny bit of that gold colored paper left and this determined the size of my scallop!! Thank goodness for keeping scraps that most people would throw out!!

When I put the card together, I used mounting adhesive to pop the stamped strip up from the card. I am so excited by the way it came out and think I will make a few more to give away in a set.

Before I end this post, I had to include the photos of my dog as I was attempting to take the pictures of my card. He wanted to play so he kept trying to get my attention!!

Peek-a-boo!!

"Mom, when are you going to be done?" 

I really had no business taking photos in this room anyway but the lighting was better then what was in my craft room at the time. Should have stuck to the craft room!!

That is all for now. Thank you for taking a look!!

Nora

Homework for Week 2, Day 2, Card 1 homework for the Summer Card Class

I have spent more time in my craft room in the last two weeks then I have done in the 3 months before. I am LOVING this class!! Yesterday was a technique Tuesday that focussed on embossing. For my homework I incorporated 3 out of the 4 techniques taught, plus one from the day before.

For the background, I used Tammy Tutterow's embossed resist and embossed edges technique. I used watercolor paper to emboss the Basic Grey snowflakes on because I wanted a little texture besides the snowflakes on the is card. I then used Ranger Peacock resist ink with a dauber and smooshed it around the card. I then took some cream ink and touched around the card images. 

I used Jen McGuire's technique from the other day on the nature embellishment behind the cup. I die cut the figure, cut little marks into the die cut for texture, inked the matching stamp, sprayed a little mist on it and then stamped on top of the die cut. I then re-stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with clear embossing ink.

The third technique I used for this is Donna Mikasa's tone on tone embossing on the cup. I used a piece of PTI patterned paper In Hawaiian Shores to die cut the mug. I then stamped on it with Versarmark ink and used clear embossing powder. It was still looking a little flat so I took an exacto-knife and enlarged the small details that stamp had left. I then rubbed Walnut Stain Ink all over it to make the little details pop. 

I decided to use kraft paper to die cut a tag and then inked around the edges with the cream ink pad. Next I stamped the steam and the sentiment on the tag in brown. I then adhered the tag to the card using foam adhesive. I then adhered the floral element and the mug with the candy cane that had been stamped and embossed. My last touches were to put tiny dots of red stickles around the greens.

I like how this card came out but know that if I wasn't doing a color challenge, I would have used alternate colors. 

Things I learned today:

• I LOVE the Heat Resist embossing technique. I do this so rarely but I need to start. Backgrounds come out so nice!! I also love how the greens came out. They were just the right greens, as to not over power the card.
• I am a very MESSY embosser. I cannot tell you how many times I had to wipe up my space as I created this. I also used up all my printer scrap paper for embossing.
• I don't think I will use so many different techniques on one card again. It becomes labor intensive and then I don't want to give card away!!

Thank you for looking at my creation today. I am off to start week 2, day 3 of my card class. 

Nora

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