Sparkly and Sporty

I had some time this weekend to try out a few of the latest challenges from StampTV. I pulled out some of my Gina K Designs stamps for this pair of cards.

This card is for the technique challenge to use tone on tone embossing. I went for a fall feel with my gold on gold embossed leaf images from Melanie’s A Year of Leaves stamp set. What an elegant look! I wasn’t sure that embossing would work so well on the lightweight gold paper I had, but it worked beautifully. It was a little tricky to see where I'd stamped the Versamark, so I did a leaf or two at a time, covered the damp image with the embossing powder, then continued like that until the panel was covered.

I kept the rest of the card simple to keep the focus on the pretty embossed leaves. The embossed panel is layered on a dark brown mat, then on another gold panel, then on a dark brown card base. I added a coordinating organdy/satin ribbon around the panels and the “thanks” sentiment from the set to complete the card.

Materials Used:
A Year of Leaves stamp set (Gina K Designs); Versamark (Tsukineko); Chocolate Chip Classic ink, Gold Glory embossing powder, 1 ¼” and 1 3/8” circle punches, dimensionals (Stampin’ Up!); gold paper (Target); ribbon (?)

My card for this week’s sketch challenge has a completely different look and feel than my first card. Here, I used a combination of images from Melanie’s Just So Sporty and Sporty Accessories for a sports themed card. I colored the jersey image with Copic markers, then stamped the “1” in the center using red ink. I colored the banner in red and added the “go team” sentiment in black before carefully cutting it out to layer on the oval panel.

To add a little interest to the design, I used the star strip from the Ribbon Stripes set to stamp along the left edge of the card. The red ribbon hides where the stamping ends. This sketch was a little out of my comfort zone and I wasn’t sure about it at first, but I think I’m okay with how it turned out in the end . . .

Materials Used:
Just So Sporty, Sporty Accessories, and Ribbon Stripes stamp sets, white cardstock (Gina K Designs); Tuxedo Black ink (Memento); markers (Copic); Real Red and Bashful Blue Classic inks, Bashful Blue and Real Red cardstock, Real Red grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals (Stampin’ Up!); petite oval dies (Nestabilities)