Retro Sketches #221

BLOBS ... That's what I like to paint with my watercolors when stamps are involved. I'm not so great at staying in the lines so I guess a little bit about where the stamps might go and paint a blob. Then after the blobs dry I wind up with something like this ...

I've been trying to color a little bit every day with some sort of medium. This set of blobs is from the third day and the results make me so happy that I made a card using sketch #221 with Retro Sketches.

YES ... this is the strangest combination of colors I've ever used as I dug through my various paper scraps. BUT I really love it for some reason in all it's weirdness. I hope my hubby likes it too when it winds up on his pillow some day. Love notes can even be written on cactus cards!

Thank you for stopping by today.

Retro Sketches #164

Orange You Sweet ... Isn't this adorable?

 

The Taste of Summer paper pack and coordinating stamp set are available from Close To My Heart until May 31st. After that it will be gone. Every single thing I've ever seen created with this is just so adorable. On May 15th the Rose Blossoms are having a blog hop with these colorful products. Please come back and hop with us.

In the meantime here's a little tasty something that I made using the current sketch from Retro Sketches. I tipped it over and love the result.

Retro Sketches #110

There are so many GREAT challenge blogs out there. Last week I played along with Operation Write Home. This week I'm trying out Retro Sketches. It felt like a good time to do something crooked!! I rarely use triangles or angles in general because truthfully ... it's not easy. BUT that's what these blogs are all about sometimes, a challenge. 

I love having a colorful card that's not really for any specific occasion. AND of course I love using up scraps. When this was first finished it was a little blech, even with the bright colors. Once I added the shimmer trim ... TA DA!!!

(For all of my perfectionist friends ... yes, that little uneven thing happening on the left bothers me a touch. BUT I'm taking the advice of this card. It's NOT worth sweating all of the little things in life. AND you know there are a lot of little things. So, maybe it's a flaw OR maybe it's creativity. I'm going with FUN!! This card is fun so it doesn't have to be perfect!!)

The Sketch

Gettin' Sketchy with Color Dare #12

I like to participate in the Color Dare at Color My Heart. Every week I say that I'm stretched by having an "assignment".  I like to tackle the challenge. This week the dare was ... Blush, Hollyhock, & Olive.  It's the first time I've ever figured that no matter what I made it would be delightful. These colors just "work". The only trouble I ran into is finding a large enough piece of patterned blush paper. Paper projects are all about the paper for me, so I like to start with the paper (in the right color) and then move forward from there.  

Since I didn't have all of the paper in all of the right sizes I made my own. I cut angled strips and adhered them to cardstock to make the "patterned" paper you see here. I took close ups so you could see. If you don't save every scrap no matter how small, you'll never the joy of making just one piece of paper stretch to it's utter limit. AND if you don't save every scrap you may be a little bit less crazy than I am. Once again I reinforced my own silly habit.  You never know what you'll need : )

Then I moved on to making the actual cards using several different sketches. Sketches just make the card making world a better place, in my opinion. I love Operation Write Home. This is my second stab at Retro Sketches and This is the first time I've ever tried Mojo Monday and my second stab at Retro Sketches. I really can't pick a favorite. Can you??

Everything I used on these cards is Close To My Heart except for the cheater lace. I had to break into this amazing deal I got at Pick Your Plum. I've been getting the BEST stuff there lately and it's piling up!! Every day they have something new to share at REALLY great prices. I have no idea what it will be on the day you're looking here. You'll have to go see for yourself.

Just Couldn't Stay Away

If you've been checking in with this blog then you know that there was a post every single day in June. Now it seems strange to NOT create something and show it to you. So I'm back ...

This week's color dare at Color My Heart has been calling my name since Friday. Today was the day  to take on the challenge ... which is to take any Close To My Heart paper pack and add any other color to it. Here I used Florentine and added a touch of Tulip. In my book red goes with almost everything. In this case you have to admit I'm right.

I've also had my eye on the sketch at Retro Sketches. This is the second time I've tried their sketch. AND I love it as much as the first one. Usually I'm a bit adventurous with a sketch, but these girls draw something so adorable I don't want to stray. I didn't even want to replace the hearts. So cute!!

Off Season

The month of June marches on and my choice of stamps sets to show you is dwindling. Will I use snowflakes OR Christmas??? These are the questions I'm starting to deal with. It looks like I won't have a choice BUT here's one happy option.

This card is made with a set called Harvest Happiness. You'll find it under Autumn on my website ... but I discovered that all of the different leaves make beautiful petals. Even though it's the off season for stamps about harvest time it doesn't matter when you give them a different look.

Speaking of different. This is my first time playing with a sketch at Retro Sketches. I followed the sketch with as much attention to the details in the sketch as possible, even though the sketch is very loosely represented. I love that!!

Here's the sketch. Pop over to their site (click on Retro Sketches above) and see what other people have made from the same drawing.