New-2 Sketches 4 You

I found a new card sketch blog this week called 2 Sketches 4 You. After I cleaned up my stamping space a little bit, I had time tonight to give both of this week's sketches a try.

The first card came together really quickly. I think this is a sketch I'll turn to again (and maybe again . . .). The sketch is really versatile. You can use different shapes for the focal image and use patterned or embossed paper on the cardfront to get lots of different looks. For this card, I used the mortar board image from the new Graduation set from Kitchen Sink Stamps. I added a red brad to the top of the mortar board image for a pop of color.

The sentiment is from the Never a Loss 4 Words set. Because of the tradition of throwing mortar boards in the air at the end of graduation ceremonies, I thought it was a fun one to use with the mortar board image (by the way, I didn't toss mine at my University of Wisconsin graduation--I think I still have the one I wore around here somewhere . . .). I stamped it directly on top of the elegant patterned paper and added a trio of black brads just underneath. I found some wide red ribbon with narrow white piping along the edge for the center of the card. The piping made for a nice detail for the cardfront.

Materials Used:

Graduation and Never a Loss 4 Words stamp sets (Kitchen Sink Stamps); Real Red, Basic Gray, and Basic Black Classic inks, Real Red, Basic Black, Basic Gray, and Shimmery White cardstock, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); circle and scalloped circle dies (Nestabilities); ribbon (Martha Stewart); brads (Joann); patterned paper (Ash Filigree from Around the Block)

This second card is really, really bright. It's pretty much a "scrappy" card with just a tiny bit of stamping. I wanted to use these felt stars from American Crafts along with the "hope your day sparkles" sentiment from the Ready 4 Any Holiday stamp set from Kitchen Sink. I found this striped patterned paper that matched the colors of the stars, so I built the rest of the card around that.I struggled a little with keeping it from being over-the-top bright and I hope I succeeded.

The sentiment is stamped on a sparkly, textured piece of yellow cardstock. I wasn't sure if the dye ink would take too well on the textured surface, but it did. The sentiment is actually in one longer line, but to fit the layout better, I inked parts of it separately. I attached the stars using glue, pop up glue dots, and dimensionals so they'd be at different heights.

For the scallops along the left side of the patterned paper panel, I decided I wanted slightly larger bumps. So, I used a 3/4" circle punch to punch out a bunch of circles from a scrap of cardstock. I ran a thin line of glue along the edge of the back of the patterned paper, then lined up the circles, edges touching, to create the scalloped line.

Materials Used:

Ready 4 Any Holiday stamp set (Kitchen Sink Stamps); yellow textured cardstock (Bazill Bling); patterned paper (Spiked Punch from Starfish & Dreams); Tempting Turquoise Classic ink, Tempting Turquoise and Pixie Pink cardstock, Tempting Turquoise grosgrain ribbon, 3/4" circle punch, glue dots, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); felt stars (American Crafts); foam tape