Make It Monday #113 (star chart)

ETA: adding this after the fact to the Tuesday Trigger, as it uses the same circle graph pattern

It's been quite awhile since I've been able to join Papertrey's Make It Monday. Since seeing Nichole play with Perfect Pearls a few weeks ago I've been dying to dig those out of my drawer and play too.

I am so excited about how this star chart sympathy card turned out! I was curios how the iridescent powder and embossing powder would work together. It's easier to see in person, but the brighter stars are embossed with silver embossing powder, and the lighter stars have the iridescent powder. The difference serves to add some dimension and perspective to star chart. See the Milky Way on the left? It's stray embossing powder that I was just about to brush away before I thought about the Milky Way. So my happy accident stays, and is my favorite part of the card.

The star chart was made by inking up the Hero Arts Circle Graph Mask with VersaMark and using it like a stamp instead of a  mask. Then brush the iridescent powder over it. You do have to think about the order of things before stamping though. The parts you want to be embossed need to be done first, then the parts to get the powder should be done last.

I don't own Perfect Pearls, but I have a set of Pearl Ex which you can see above.

The two star stamps are from Papertrey's Banner Builder set (had forgotten about these little treasures!) and the sentiment is from their With Sympathy set. A nice match I think. Since the sentiment is stamped on a shiny silver paper, I had to use black embossing powder to get a dark, sharp color.

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Papertrey April Blog Hop (Baby)

 

Here's a second card for the "tilted" hop at Papertrey!

This uses the Snowflake Furries set to create diagonal stripes. Love the variety of sizes and patterns in these stamps! The Whale Wishes die is embossed, and tucked into a slit made with an exacto.

Super short today, to maximize your hopping time : )

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Papertrey April Blog Hop (Playing Cards)

 

It's blog hop time at Papertrey, where the theme this month is to incorporate an angle in your design. I was particularly drawn to the image above, and used that as inspiration to make two boy birthday cards.

I think the general idea of using playing cards related to the child's age has been around for awhile, but I haven't tried it yet. Obviously, this birthday card is for a 10 year old. I bought several sets of playing cards at a garage sale last summer for 5 cents each. Can't go wrong with that! Plus, you get two cards out of each playing card when they're cut like this : )

I added Seeing Stars dies and punched stars around the 10 of spades, and a sentiment in embossed red glitter.

I also have a 2 year old boy birthday coming up ...

A perfect use for a 6x6 pack of dinosaur paper that I got from Moxie Fab (thanks!) This card couldn't have been easier to make. I cut the dinosaur paper to size and added the halved two of hearts. A strip of paper was added below because the sentiment on the top of the dinosaur paper needed to be cut off.

I have not yet put down the gold embossing powder ... it may yet earn a permanent spot on my desk. The fins of the dinosaur are cut with an exacto so I can slide the sentiment underneath. You might have noticed there's something on the inside. With all the left over patterned paper trimmings, I decided to use some on the inside of the card ...

The sentiment I had to cut off before is now worked into the greeting on the inside of the card. I think the added colors, shapes and shine makes it a little more fun, especially for a child who can't read.

Thanks so much for looking!
-Kelly

More Birthday Wishes for Michele!

(note: the Girl Friday hop for Michele is below)

Happy Birthday, again, Michele!! Here's my first birthday post with the Girl Fridays. This post is part of the Ink Squad Birthday Hop (where you should have come from Virginia's blog). We're using


COLOR

to send Michele a collective birthday wish. Each blog gets a letter from the word "birthday" and makes a card focused on that color. I've got the last letter in "birthdaY", so of course my card will be mostly YELLOW.

This card uses:

• stop sign from Stop (tilted so it looks less like a stop sign, more like a graphic element);
• sentiment from Bold Wishes; and
• arrows from Rad (embossed in gold and colored in with alcohol markers).

 The background sky was created with a highly technical method of coloring ...dried out marker! Grrrr. RIP, most perfect shade of aqua blue. The other numbers next to you just aren't the same.

If you've been hopping, then congrats, you've made it to the last stop! You might want to check out the Girl Friday Birthday Hop next:

Leigh Ann Sanketi Alice Kelly <--here! Jingle Lorena Lindsay

Sylvia Deb Jocelyn AJ Pamela Angie

And here are links for the Ink Squad hop if you want to check out the other colors again:

Karen B
Dana I
Laurie R
Lynn T
Michelle H
Piali D
Virginia A
Kelly  Y <--You're here!

Thanks for hopping!
-Kelly

Surprise Birthday Blog Hop for Michele

 

As you may know from the current CAS-ual Fridays Challenge, it's blog founder and stamp company owner Michele Gross' birthday today! In honor of this occasion, and because Michele is THE BEST EVER, the Girl Fridays are having a surprise birthday blog hop. You may have arrived from amazeballs Alice’s blog. If not, there's a list at the end of this post for your hopping convenience.

This card makes use of Michele's Beanstalks set (the flowers in the mason jar) and the sentiment from the newly released Mum's the Word.

 I put some acetate over the jars and topped them with a metallic lid. The "tablecloth" hangs loosely over the sentiment panel.

Your next stop is the stylish Jingle's blog who has an epic mellon/mint creation for you (well, I guess really it's for Michele, but we all get to see it!!)

Leigh Ann Sanketi Alice Kelly <--here! Jingle Lorena Lindsay

Sylvia Deb Jocelyn AJ Pamela Angie

And, here's ANOTHER birthday blog hop for Michele put on by the Ink Squad with a theme of color: Karen, Dana, Laurie, Lynn, Michelle, Piali, Virginia, Kelly

Can you feel the love or what?!? Michele, hope you have the most fantastic birthday ever!!

Feature on Scrap Rendez-Vous

ETA: adding this after the fact to the Tuesday Trigger, as it uses the same circle graph pattern

and here's the card with the circle graph that was sneak-peeked below (for details, go here):

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I was so excited and honored when my super-talented and artistic friend Alexandra asked me to join Scrap Rendez-Vous to share a sketch and some cards! Here are some sneaks of three different cards based on the same sketch. Please head on over to check them out if you're interested : ) They also have a month-long challenge based on this sketch if you want to play along.

Thanks so much for looking!

-Kelly

Fusion Challenge #3

(note: this is my second post of the day. For the CFC #99 post, please scroll down or click here.)

 Another great Fusion challenge last week with an overwhelming majority electing to create a fusion of the sketch and the photo. The submissions were fantastic!

 

Since I'm a Sketch Scientist, I'll always go off the sketch. For this sketch, here's what I saw:

1) a bunch of elements arranged around a center point;

2) movement ... I saw the flourish not as its own element, but as representation of movement of the first set of elements; and

3) a sentiment underneath everything.

So this is the result. A circus seal flipping balls in the air. I used a thick acetate circle to adhere the balls too. It's all attached in the center with a small brad, and a chipboard disc on either side of the acetate to act as a washer and keep the circle spinning freely. I was happy with how easily it turns.

Also, I paid attention to the pattern and made sure to center it before I trimmed the edges (thanks online card classes!)

 Here's the movement of the balls.

I'd love to see what you come up with this week in the gallery. Remember, you only have until next Wednesday to link up since the voting starts on Thursday at 9 am EST. 

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly