Hitting the Books

Here’s my card for this week’s My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch challenge. I went with a teacher themed thank you card using the Teacher's Pet set as my focal image.

I colored the stamped image with Copic markers and added a little Glossy Accents to the apple for a shiny look. The colored image is layered over two different Simple Stories patterned papers—I thought the number blocked one was fun for a teacher-themed card. It was also light enough that I could stamp the "teachers rule” sentiment directly on the paper instead of adding another panel or layer to the design. A little machine stitching adds a finished look to the two patterned panels. A piece of red grosgrain ribbon runs between the two patterned paper layers.

Materials Used:
Teacher's Pet stamp set (My Favorite Things); white cardstock (Taylored Expressions); Memento Tuxedo Black ink (Tsukineko); Real Red and Crumb Cake cardstock (Stampin’ Up!); 100 Days of Summer designer papers (Simple Stories); red grosgrain ribbon (Michaels); Glossy Accents (Ranger); sewing machine

And, here's my project for this month's guest designer contest. The theme was "hitting the books," so I created a fun sports themed mini album. The album is made from cardstock and has four page protectors inside made from clear envelopes. They're stacked on top of each other with the adhesive flaps binding them together. The album's binding is secured with a pair of large silver eyelets.

I decorated the cover with the little Pure Innocence football player. He's set on a sky/grass background panel with a football at his feet. I set the small scene on a piece of kraft paper with a repeating star pattern. The "football superstar" sentiment from the All Star set is stamped on a notch-ended strip that extends beyond the edge of the scene.

I made simple pages for the inside of the album, sticking with a red, blue, and kraft color scheme. Since I didn't have any photos to work with that fit the theme, you'll just have to imagine they're there, okay?

Each kraft page has a solid cardstock photo mat that's embellished with a sports motif. For the first two pages, I used a die cut football with a sentiment strip and a prize ribbon style embellishment. The accent piece is attached to the page with foam tape.

The second two pages use the same basic layouts as the first to tie the album together. Here, I used a stamped helmet image and a fun folded banner as accents.

Materials Used:
Pure Innocence Boy and His Dog-Football, First Place Award Ribbon, and All Star stamps, All Star Die-namics (My Favorite Things); white cardstock (Taylored Expressions); Memento Tuxedo Black ink (Tsukineko); Brocade Blue, Real Red, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White, and Crumb Cake cardstock (Stampin’ Up!); Game Day Chili-Italian Sausage (Jillibean Soup); silver brads (Making Memories); large silver eyelets (WeR Memory Keepers); grass border punch (Martha Stewart); foam tape