Sketch Layout Challenge #12

This past fortnight we had a nice and simple layout which I designed. We had lots of participants and so I have lots of fun and varied ideas to show you. As always, anyone is welcome to join us for challenges in the future. All you need to do is join this group!

I wanted to start off this challenge with my FAVOURITE design this time round. This Frozen inspired card was created by my talented downline Stacey from Rustic Squirrel Handmade. If you live in SA Stacey runs monthly workshops and she is so super talented. Check out her page for event details.

This fun and bright card was designed by Tristan from Tinstar Designs. 

These two cards were made by the talented Julia Quinn of Handmade by Julia Quinn. 

I love how fresh and bright and cheerful these cards are made by Kymberly from grubbee. She also does sews beautiful clothes and toys, check out her page!

These two cards were created by the clever Mary Shapley. She is new to Stampin' Up! products and is making some really pretty things!

Eliza made this card and it was her first challenge in our group. I think she did a marvellous job.

One of my friends Dianne has also just joined our challenge group and these two cards are her first challenge cards. I really miss that floral DSP! 

Angie from Angie's Craft Fusion made this really sweet sympathy card.

And then my cards! My first card I followed the sketch layout pretty closely. I really love using green as you know so found this DSP in my stash and had to use it. 

And my second design I had a  little more fun with. I used 4 different washi tapes. The coastal cabana (aqua) pattern in the background is actually washi tape! Looks pretty awesome huh!?!? 

If you'd like to join in next time please pop over to our group and ask to join. We'd love to have you. Thanks for another great challenge ladies! 

Sketch Layout Challenge #11

Legs eleven!! We had a fun geometric challenge this time. I love using my Triangle punch so thought I'd incorporate it into a challenge! We didn't have as many ladies participate this time round due to busy schedules but I still have some beautiful designs to show you! If you'd like to join in next time, join up to this group. We'd love to have you! And here we go....

First up we have this gorgeous red design by Angie from Angie's Craft Fusion.  Angie used 3 new Stampin' Up! stamp sets and Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities. These are all brand new products which will be released in the new Stampin' Up! catalogue in July!

Kymberly from grubbee came up with this fun bright birthday card for a little one. I really like the triangles!! I guess Kymberly has one of those triangle punches too! :)

Tristan from Tinstar Designs made this delicate girly butterfly creation. I love the colours and the banner framelits are one of my favourite new Stampin' Up! products! 

Here is my first design! I enjoyed this layout so much that I decided to make up two cards. This first card I kept to the brief fairly spot on. I had some fun using some DSP and ribbon that is retiring at the end of this month (check out the retirement list here). The fans on my FB page LOVED it. Do you love it too? 

For my second card I had fun using the same colours as they were already out on my desk but I played around with the design and shapes a little more. I used my Hexagon Hives framelit die for this one. I'm loving it!

If you'd like to join in next time please pop over and join our group here. 

Sketch Layout Challenge #10

I can't believe we have already complete 10 challenges. I am really grateful to have an increasing group of talented ladies who are enthusiastically creating beautiful pieces for each challenge. This time round our sketch was designed by Stacey from Rustic Squirrel Handmade (thanks Stacey!). So here we go again! 

Sally made this really stunning sympathy card using lots of layering and bling! 

Next up is this stunning crisp cantaloupe creation by Adele from Adelisa Designs. Adele has just started dabbling in card making again after the birth of her 5th child. She's kind of amazing!

This card was made by a friend who joins our challenge group for the first time. Beverley is a hobbyist and I'm so glad she's joined in because she makes beautiful things!

Kymberly from grubbee made this sweet new baby card. I love the little fox! Kymberly has just released some new baby products so pop over and check them out. 

Stacey from Rustic Squirrel Handmade always comes up with fresh and fun ideas for these challenges. She is a stellar Stampin' Up! demonstrator and if you live in SA and need a demo, then look no further. She runs workshops ALL the time and is always sharing fun ideas and techniques on her blog. 

Julia from Handmade by Julia Quinn made this beautiful postcard birthday card. I particularly love the colour combination she has used. 

Angie from Angie's Craft Fusion has made this sweet poppy card in grey white and mustard. It's such a popular colour combination and always looks so good. 

Jan joined our group just recently and did this challenge with a twist using slightly different supplies for her design. It is absolutely full of delightful pieces! 

Tristan from Tinstar Designs was one of the first to complete this challenge. She used a fabulous denim pocket stamp in her design which I have never seen before and adore!

And last but not least is my design! I really love Stampin' Up's This & That DSP and with it retiring in a month's time want to use as much of it as I can before my time runs out! I actually had lots of hurdles with my design, ensuring it was balanced, not too busy, and figuring out the right way to embellish. But I got there in the end and all the frustration is long forgotten and I'm left with this fabulous card! 

And that wraps up another challenge. If you'd like to join in on our next challenge just pop over to this group and join up. We'd love to have you. 

Sketch Layout Challenge #9

I can't believe we are already at #9 in this challenge series. It has gone by really quickly. I've enjoyed the challenge thus far and love how it is expanding. The more participants we have, the more talent we can showcase. If you'd like to join in with our sketch challenges, just join this group and the rest is easy.

So here we go, layout #9.

Tristan from Tinstar Designs had a bit of fun with her design. She moved the elements around to come up with her own version and I'm really liking it. I really like that background too. Like a lot! Tristan's FB page is just starting out, so pop over and show some love here OK! 

Next is this beauty made by Stacey from Rustic Squirrel Handmade. Stacey is one of my talented downlines and she had fun using some of the new Stampin' Up polymer stamps for her design. I love how fresh and bright and crisp her design is! Oh, and she blogged about how she made it here.

Angie from Angie's Craft Fusion had birthday on her mind when she came up with her design. Her sketch design is on the left and she also made up a design with the negative floral offcut on the right. I love the colour combo she has used which she pulled from her awesome birthday candle DSP! 

Leigh-Anne was the first to come with her design for this challenge. The beginning of our time frame was of course before Mother's Day which is why she made this lovely Mother's Day card. I love her idea with the ribbon! Love love love it! 

Adele from Adelisa Designs is brand new to our challenge group. I'm glad to have her in the group but at the same time she is so good that it makes me look bad, so I'm thinking of kicking her out.. kidding! I will have to lift my game instead! Adele whipped this card up earlier today just in time for me to share with you. The glue under her button is even still wet!! I love it. I love it. I love it. This woman has an eye people, watch out. 

Kymbo, sorry, I mean Kymberly from grubee handmade came up with this beauty of a card. See how she used scalloped DSP circles to make her background shape? How cool is that idea!!! Looove! She just layered them around evenly for the effect. She did admit afterwards that is was a pain to do though haha! 

This time round my 5 year old niece took part in the challenge!!! She came over yesterday and insisted on making a card for her mum for Mother's Day (even though Mother's Day is past, she could not be convinced otherwise). She told me what she wanted me to write inside for her and she signed off her name at the bottom. She's a sweet little thing. 

And last but not least, my card. I will admit that I almost missed my own deadline for this challenge. I literally finished this card 2 mins before the deadline. It's been a bit busy lately and it got put on the back burner. So my card was a rush job that actually worked out haha. We all know how disastrous the rush jobs can turn out sometimes.... don't we? I'm just glad this time I got lucky. Loving that colour combo too. I had already pulled out the Pear Pizzazz and was staring up at my cardstock trying to pick a second colour and couldn't decide. So I resorted to my little drawer of ribbon offcuts. That slither of Bermuda Taffeta was just sitting there wanting to be used. I love how it turned out! :) 

Don't forget anyone can take part in these Sketch Layout Challenges, just join this group to get all the info. Our #10 challenge has been designed by one of our clever participants, so I look forward to giving it a crack and sharing with you in 2 weeks time! Happy paper crafting! 

The Hallmark Challenge #3

This challenge kicked off earlier in the year and I have been so busy with everyone's wonderful orders to be able to get regular challenge posts up. Sorry about that! I won't make any huge promises other than I'll continue to try and get these up as often as I can.

Ok, a quick recap for those who don't know what The Hallmark Challenge is. I feature an over priced store bought card, which I have photographed IN the store, because it is far too over priced for me to purchase for the challenge. Then comes the fun part. Using the supplies I have in my stash, I recreate the card and share it here with you. The card will then be available for purchase after the challenge. 

If you'd like to recap on previous challenges you can find them here and here.

Ok and here we go with Challenge #3.....

Our victim this time round is this overpriced (at $6.99, what a joke) wedding card. I have been looking forward to recreating this one. For $7 I thought it was QUITE basic. A card doesn't need to be overly embellished or over the top to be beautiful. It can be simple and still be beautiful and elegant. I'm sure it appeals to many, but not to me! :) Off to work I went. 

First thing, I wasn't interested in the gold touches. I know that gold is very "in" at the moment but I've been doing a lot of work with gold lately and wanted to change it up a little, so pulled out my silver supplies instead. Here is what I came up with.

I kept the simple and elegant feel but jazzed it up a little (of course). We have a doily edge silver foil heart with rhinestone embellishments, and a sparkly silver glimmer heart. 

I used my Dictionary (#130351) background stamp behind the hearts and put vellum over the top to give it a blurred effect. Then I just popped a sweet sentiment at the bottom and I was done! 

I dunno about you, but I like mine HEAPS better! It will be put up for sale over here really soon! If you want to have a go at recreating this Hallmark Card, please go ahead and add your weblink into the linky tool below! 

Till next time...

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