Critter Cards

I used some cute "critter" images to complete some different blogger sketch challenges this afternoon.

This one is for this week's sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You. Like I've said before, these sketches really challenge me, but I think that's good. Here, I used the Basic Grey Urban Prairie designer paper as the basis for my card. I built all the other elements around the color and feel of the paper.

I used the smallest of the Nested Bird die cut set and some shimmery red paper from Paper Temptress to create the embossed bird on the image panel. I sketched out the branch on a scrap of brown paper, then cut it out by hand. The spunky "listen up!" sentiment is from Unity Stamp Co.'s December Kit of the Month. My kit arrived yesterday and I wanted to try it out--I thought the bird and sentiment were a fun pair.

I layered the Soft Sky panel with the bird and branch on a black scallop edge panel so it wouldn't be lost against the patterned paper. I paper pierced a bold red strip of cardstock and added a black satin ribbon around it, then layered that on the card. I added 5 red rhinestones along the right edge of the card, matching the red centers of the flowers in the paper.

Materials Used:

December Kit of the Month (Unity Stamp Co.); Real Red Classic ink, Real Red, Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky, and Basic Black cardstock, mat pack and paper piercing tool, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); black satin ribbon (Target); red self-adhesive rhinestones (Michaels); Threading Water punch (Fiskars); designer paper (Basic Grey's Urban Prairie); Nested Bird die (Nestabilities); red shimmery paper (Paper Temptress)

This cutie is for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge. Instead of a using an image with a cupcake, I went with images from Pink Poison's Cup Full of Stuff set--see, there's still a "cup" in there!

I colored the pair of mice with Copic markers and embellished them with some Stickles. I also sponged around them to create a soft blue sky, then layered them on a scalloped Baja Breeze circle.

The cardfront is covered with a panel of My Mind's Eye Christmas paper. It's soft and shimmery and glittery IRL. Because of the texture, it proved difficult to stamp on, so I ended up stamping the sentiment on a scrap of Kraft cardstock (hiding my kind of smudgy stamping attempt underneath . . .). I used another strip of My Mind's Eye paper for the panel across the cardfront. I wrapped a piece of Kraft taffeta around this before attaching it to the patterned paperpanel. Everything's set on a Kraft card base--I love the look of blue and brown together, especially on wintery cards.

Materials Used:

Cup of Stuff stamp set (Pink Poison--soon to be The Greeting Farm); white cardstock (Xerox); Rich Cocoa and Tuxedo Black inks (Memento); Baja Breeze Classic ink, Baja Breeze and Kraft cardstock, paper piercing tool, Kraft taffeta, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); circle and scalloped circle dies (Nestabilities); self-adhesive rhinestones (Michaels); designer paper (My Mind's Eye-Christmas Stack)