Banners for Baby

There's no real story behind this card other than I smiled a lot making it, thinking of the times when we brought our boys home from the hospital. And if you haven't had any babies, why, what's there not to smile about when polka dots, happy, bright colors and clouds are involved?

For Practicing Creativity Design's latest release, the team issued a couple of sketch challenges for a chance to win a really big prize from PCD. Not only is the prize very nice, but the sketches are really easy to use and very versatile. My own challenge was to create a baby card (per the request of a co-worker, love it when they ask me to make them one!) and I figured that a banner floating in the sky to welcome a little one would be fun to make. The pennants are covered with glossy accents and allowed to dry before cutting. I also overstamped the clouds and highlighted a few for dimension in the background-can you see it?) One of the challenges over at 365 Cards is to use banners-I love banners!

Supplies Used: Cardstock: White (Georgia Pacific) Purple (Recollections) Stamps: Pennants from Look Up! and Clouds from You're Dandy (Practicing Creativity Designs) Sticker Sentiment: (SRM) Ink: Onyx Black (Versamagic) Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress (Ranger) Fresh Snow (PTI) White Craft (Stampin Up) Chalk Ink (Colorbox) Other: Black Pen (Pilot) White Gel Pen (Signo) Glossy Accents (Ranger)

Painted Flower

Paint. She used to paint all the time in high school. She painted some in college. She felt rusty as she pulled out the paints in the bright colors. She timidly dipped the paint brush in the first color and let the bristles touch the paper. The creativity came back through her fingertips and she continued on with the other colors. Paint.

This card brought me back to the time when art was fun! I don't usually combine so many challenges, but the card kind of fell together with them in mind. I knew I wanted to use paint for Teri Anderson's Playing with Paint Challenge... and the colors of the paint were to be the bright and fun hues at Off the Wall Craftiness-not to mention that I loved the flowers in the corner, which brought me to... the tissue paper medium to fit with the 365 Cards Challenge... and the sentiment Mr. & Mrs. for the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World. The layout of the card is derived from the sketch at 2S4Y.

Supplies Used: Cardstock: White (Georgia Pacific) Taken with Teal (Stampin Up) Ink: Taken with Teal Marker (Stampin Up) Embellishments: Sticker Sentiment (SRM Stickers) Rhinestone (Oriental Trading Company) Teal Twine (May Arts from Practicing Creativity Designs) Tools: Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Flower Dies (Provo Craft), Acrylic Paint (Apple Barrel), Glossy Accents (Ranger)

The Clothes Line

She was the master of fort making. She'd take the old quilts and drape them over the clothes line. Then she'd take a few clothes pins and pin more blankets inside the fort in just the right areas to create rooms. We'd had the perfect fortress against the neighborhood boys. She was our leader. We were invincible.
This patterned paper lent itself quite nicely for the linear design of the sketch at Everything But the Kitchen Sink. I thought that the card needed a little extra umph in the bottom corner, so I added a stitched sun, the inspiration coming from the sketch at 365 Cards. I'll be the first to admit that I struggle with the use of patterned paper in card-making and admire all of the wonderful crafters that make it look effortless.

Supplies Used: Cardstock: Marigold Morning (Stampin Up) Patterned Paper: The Boyfriend Line (Cosmo Cricket) Blue from Cottage Power Pallette (Creative Memories) Tools: Scallop Trim Border Punch (Stampin Up) Circle Punch (Creative Memories) Other: Twine, Thread, Brown Journaling Pen (Creative Memories)