Christmas Card Throwdown

I discovered a new card challenge by following a link on someone's post. I can't remember who now. (I went looking and it was Kath with this beautiful card. And so many more on her blog).



 This suits my idea of not leaving all my Christmas cards until the last minute (and then not having enough and so not sending them - two years ago). I have a couple made so far but I'm hoping to make a few more over the coming weeks.
I managed to make this one in between coming home from work and cooking so that was a good use of time and it came together fairly quickly for me.
This week it is:

                             To pick a previous sketch from the archive.

I started off using one sketch but it finished up loosly based on another! It morphed from Sketch 4 to Sketch 1.
                                             

I hope you think it is close enough to count. I was just pleased to finish something I was pleased with and nothing went in the bin!

The wreath stamp is Inky Doodles coloured with gel pens. Then I added a bit of stitching. It seems I can't make anything without stiching just now. 
I hope you like it. I am pleased with the simplicity and the colours. 

Simple sketch

It's been a wet bank holiday, no surprise but what a shame for everyone organising events. I've been very productive inside including cleaning things long overdue, decorating :( and of course a bit of stamping as a reward for being virtuous.
I never know what my favourite flower is, it changes every month, and it is the same with stamps. Today this is my favourite. The image is so clear and stamps perfectly every time. It is new as well, so that helps.
I stamped this green panel first:

and then decided I'd like to try it in Autumn colours. I don't really want to think of Autumn any more than I want to think of Christmas but the colours are lovely. 

I've made this for my Dad who has just had a knee operation. I tried it on a white card background but the contrast was too stark.
The top card is mounted on a piece of scrap card I had so that is why it looks a bit tight on the page. My mission is to use up all my bits. I'm thinking lots of tiny thank you cards and gift tags. 
The leaf stamp is from a Card-io foliage set and I just happened to buy a couple of her teeny tiny stamp sets too. So I think I'll put the Inky Doodles away (briefly) and have a go with these.
The sentiments are both Hobby Art.
The card design is a sketch from this weeks Less is More challenge.
                                                 

Sheep should always be tartan

There has been some discussion about this card in our house. Some think the flower frame is too much and others think it frames the card. We all agree, though, that sheep should always be tartan. (Not really tartan I know.
 I have copied some real patterns with these stamps).

As usual, I have mixed feelings about it. I see I should have done the border after the sheep but hopefully it has a naive quality and doesn't just look a bit rubbish.
Still using the Inky Doodles stamps. The sunflowers are coloured with sparkly gel pen which gives that all important bit of glitter.

 

I thought I would enter this for the following challenges:

    Theme week - Animal.

and 

   A Child's birthday.

Hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think.

Hello Baby

Here is a card I made for a friend of one of my sons, who has just had a baby. Six weeks early but all well thankfully.

I've use all Inky Doodles stamps again. Mostly from the Primitive Angel set but also my lovely little button from the Christmas set. And I printed the words from the computer after seeing this on another card and thinking it was a nice message. The colours are actually turquoise but it does look blue even though the baby is a little girl. I'm sure she won't mind.
Hope I get to meet her soon!

Unashamed CASE

I checked the Less is More challenge at the weekend and found the the new theme is Foliage. It also has to be a One Layer Card.

Great, I thought, back in my comfort zone, and reached for my trusty well used favourites.
Then I had a look at the examples and decided to do an unashamed CASE of Jen Nelson's card. I liked the cream background, the colours and the slightly Victorian feel. I hope I have managed that here.
I always plan to make Christmas cards ahead of time but rarely get more than a few done. I don't really want to think about it in the summer.
Well here is one. That makes a grand total of erm..1 but early days...

It's quite little, about 10cm square. I like to do plenty of stamping and inking on a card but in the case of Christmas you sometimes want to produce quite a few quite quickly. This has a satisfying amount of colouring on it so I felt as though I had done something. It's not perfect and I wanted liquid pearls for the berries but I couldn't find the right colour so maybe I'll get some and make a few more. I use a white gel pen instead.
The stamps are from Inky Doodles.
Sentiment - Marion Emberson
Jen, I hope you don't mind this humble copy.

Buttons and checks

This card was inspired by a tiny piece of stamped paper that has been on my desk for months. I saved it, as you do, thinking it would come in handy one day.

It is all stamped with Inky Doodles stamps. The checks are from her Primitive Angel set and then the patterns are my favourite Print Backgrounds 2. Then I needed something else and I remembered the button stamp from Warm Winter Wishes. I bought that set just so I could have the button stamp. It sounds as though I have all the Inky Doodles sets but sadly I don't. Just those ones. 
I have mounted my fabric strip stamps onto 6" rulers to make stamping in grids easier. I keep them on there. I love them, the combinations of colour and size are endless.

This is the finished card after much fiddling about. I orinially masked off and inked a yellow and a green background square but they didn't have enough definition so I moved on. I still have the card so maybe I'll go back to it.  Am I the only one who makes everything three times?

I am entering this into two challenges:
The Paper Players - Cute as a Button. No I'm not - it seems I'm just too late :(
Stamplorations - Bi weekly sketch Challenge.

Smudgy shades

I can't get on with anything this morning as everyone is asleep. I've done all the quiet jobs so I'm having to post a card.
 I wanted to try watercolour backgrounds that I have seen many people using. It can look quite grungy or much smarter. Mine is grungy and not just because I dropped the acrylic block!
I used colours from the current Less is More colour challenge:


                                           
These colours are lovely but probably not a combination I would normally use.  Incidentally I had a look at the Design Seeds website and it is gorgeous. I'm probably the last to know but I'll definitely be going back for colour inspiration. design-seeds.com

I inked an acrylic block and then spritzed with water and pressed onto the card. I did the bluey green first, made a good impression and then dropped the block onto the card. I wasn't surprised, I am very clumsy. I carried on regardless and did the green and the yellow and then you could hardly see the smudge. The yellow was too bright, I thought so I went over it again with the left over green. 

 

It then took me way longer to get this mediocre photo than it took to make the card and it still doesn't show that the green is really green not grey. 
I'm still not very sure about the end result. Should I have left the ribbon off? I like the backgrounds but still considering the finished card. Tell me what you think.