Unscripted Sketches #156

Great sketch, eh? (.... oh so Canadian !!!)

I could probably flip this sketch top to bottom and it would probably still 'work' as the tree top or the ground could be the larger rectangle area.  The three birds are intended to represent the other three rectangles of the sketch.

Not much stamping on this card!  Just the wee 'HAPPY' along the oh so cute polka dot tree trunk (don't you just love the polka dots?).  I sparkled up the  birds  a bit with a clear Atyou Spica pen (you can kind of see the shimmer on the top bird). 

The leaves are Sizzlit Little Leaves, the birds are SU Easy Events (stamped and cut out), the tree trunk is hand drawn, and the 'grass' is SU Adorning Accents Edgelit Dies.  At one point, I did have die cut clouds in the 'sky' but decided that it was just too busy.

We would love to have you play along with us at Unscripted Sketches.  The blog is abuzz with activity, excitement, and enthusiasm as the new DT members jump feet first into their new roles.  Stop by, say hello, welcome the new ladies and then show us your stuff!

Click to link:  Unscripted Sketches

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #155 + Piggyback Challenge

What an awesome challenge! The piggyback portion is to use something recycled so I went green as green can get with this card!

The card base is cut from a cereal box and covered with a used paper bag. You might want to test different boxes as some are a schmick too thick to give a nice crisp fold.

DH makes the best homemade deer jerky around!  He always saves paper bags to store the jerky in.  I snagged one of those bags and used it to cover the card base and now the cats won't stop sniffing the card!  I love the zig zagged edge at the bottom of the card.  Got me thinking about why it is zig-zagged, and the only thing I could come up with is to avoid paper cuts ???  I also used the bag to mat the home-made paper.

The flowers are die cut from a hot coffee cup sleeve from our local (and delicious) Coffee Creations. There was a bit of a waffle weave on the sleeve but unfortunately it flattened out going through my Big Shot.  I inked the edges up with some SU Crumb Cake and Bravo Burgundy.  I think that the flowers almost look like they are made of leather.  Hmmmm ... leather, another possible recylced medium for next time!

I purchased this incredible home-made paper at a craft sale ages ago.  The paper has actual chunks of leaves and thread in it! The texture of this paper is amazingly soft - almost like a fine piece of cheese cloth.  It was so easy to distress the edges as the fibers just pull apart, leaving a softly frayed edge.

I cut a narrow strip of the paper bag, twisted it up tightly, dipped it in some strong tea and then let it dry.  The somewhat sepia tint is beautiful in real life! (Hint - use black tea only. No milk or cream.....tried it, doesn't work!)

This has definitely been my favorite sketch challenge to date! I spent hours trying to come up with something different and discovered some new uses for old pantie hose and used dryer sheets!

So, what are you waiting for?  Head on over to Unscripted Sketches, enjoy a visual feast of yumminess lovingly prepared for you by our awesome DT members and then get busy thinking green!  Just click to link: Unscripted Sketches

Happy green crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #154

... the sketch

Did you hear the news? 

Unscripted Sketches has enlisted the talent of a whole whack of amazing designers who are anxious to get busy wowing you with their amazing creations in their new role as Design Team members!  Seriously, the talent that these ladies bring to Unscripted Sketches is going to rock the crafting world.  Check it out here:  http://unscriptedsketches.com/  and be prepared to be inspired!

Now, about my card....a somewhat belated Easter card that I actually didn't mail until two days ago.  It accompanied a whole bunch of treats and MONEY though, so all is well ! 

I made the eggs by first punching a small oval, cutting the oval in less than half and then pasting it onto a small punched circle.  I covered the joint with decorations.

I hand wove the paper to make the basket, curved it a bit, popped it up with dimensionals, placed the eggs [carefully] inside and outside of the basket, tied a ribbon on the handle, and added a sentiment (should have used a softer color than black for the sentiment).

I love my weekly blog visits to Russia, Canada, Poland, USA, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Portugal, United Kingdom, Denmark .... our cyberworld knows no boundaries and enables us to share our love of this craft.  How exhilarating !!!

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #153

It's Blog-iversary time at Unscripted Sketches and yippppeee, there are prizes!

I'm back from me wee vacation.  I do apologize if I missed commenting on submissions from the previous sketch (#152) but the hotel rooms in Vegas just don't seem to have a computers.  Imagine that !!!

A few deets on the above card. I stamped and embossed the image on vellum and colored it from the back side of the paper. I absolutely love the effect of this technique.  Coloring on vellum with Copics seems to really attract the light which in turn creates nice deep rich tones.  Again, so much nicer in real life. 

I wanted to keep the focus on the bird house so I kept the rest of the card simple.  Baker's Twine and buttons always seems to fit the 'simple' look, don't you think?

Make sure you try really hard to take part in our Blog-iversary sketch this week.  Remember.....there are prizes!!!  Just create & click below to post your potential prize winning entries :)

It's Party Time at Unscripted Sketches !!!

Happy crafting!