So according to what I said on my Facebook page, yesterday I was meant to upload a photo of a card that I made using my sketch.  Of course when you work from home, things that aren’t so urgent seem to fall by the wayside a bit – especially when you’re sitting in the TV room, laptop on lap, looking out the window on a beautiful Winter’s day.

I found it difficult to get up and tackle the internet issues that I always seem to have from my office upstairs yesterday (the photo of the card was on my computer not laptop).  So here I am now (one day late) and with the internet currently working in my office, here’s the card that I made from my sketch.

Ahhhhh!  I just realised that I made a mistake and didn’t place my oval more to the right.  Sigh.  Well I might just have to lift the centrepiece and reposition it to match my sketch a bit better. LOL.

So a pretty straightforward card – the gorgeous bird image was stamped in Early Espresso ink onto some scrap cardstock then coloured in with chalks to give a nice soft feel then cut out and adhered to the oval that I cut out on the Big Shot.  I ran a So Saffron marker around the edge of the oval to give it a bit more emphasis as it seemed to get a little lost on the card with out it but otherwise I didn’t do any other sponging or highlighting on the card, the whole ‘natural and rustic’ look comes straight from the gorgeous paper that I’ve used.  Definitely I’ll be hoarding a few extra packets of this paper so that I have a stash when it retires.

Which reminds me… there was a discussion recently between some stampers who were lamenting the fact that so many cards these days are made using ‘ready made products’ rather than making interesting backgrounds with ink, rubber stamps and other stamping stuff.  I must admit I used to feel this way but these days I figure that whatever it is that you use which makes you cardmaking experience a happy one is just fine.  If you prefer to make your own backgrounds with sprays and ink and rubber stamps then fantastic, I certainly still do that too.  But if you want to make a card that primarily uses patterned paper like I did with this card (except for the stamped bird and sentiment) then I think that’s fine too.  I really enjoyed making this card and love the fact that everything coordinates.  Anyway, seems to be a bit of a hot topic sometimes with stampers, so let me know what you think… anything goes? do you enjoy one way of cardmaking over another? I’d love to know.

If you are on Facebook then please jump over to my Facebook page and click like. For those not on Facebook, here’s the sketch that I uploaded there the other day:

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Nature Walk
Clearly For You (for you sentiment)

Cardstock & Paper:
Early Espresso
Naturals Ivory
Botanical Gazette

Inkpad and Other Colouring Items:
Early Espresso
Stampin’ Pastels (chalks – Not Quite Navy, Marina Mist, Old Olive, Early Espresso)
So Saffron Marker

Tools:
Big Shot
Ovals die (for the Big Shot)
Scallop Trim Border Punch
Modern Label Punch

Accessories:
Early Espresso 1/8″ Taffeta Ribbon
Victoria Crochet Trim
Linen Thread
Designer Buttons (Neutrals)

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals
Glue Dots

I’ve had a few people ask me for card sketches so I drew one up yesterday and later in the evening I made a card from it.

A simple sketch but you can jazz it up with extra layers and textures.

And here’s the card that I made from the sketch.

I think my favourite part of this card is the idea that I had first and that’s the little squirrels that have been made into a brad.  So stinkin’ cute! (as my American friends say).  The squirrels are part of a stamp that’s a little larger, they’re actually sitting on a park bench, so I stamped them then punched them out and popped them into the Build-a-Brad to make a cute coordinating accessory for my card.  The Build-a-brad is super easy, you just add a little adhesive on the back of your image that you’ve punched (or patterned paper or whatever you want to put there), then you just place the self-adhesive clear bubble over it and there you have your coordinating brad.

The main image of the tree was inked up with Always Artichoke and then I traced over some of the branches with a Chocolate Chip marker (directly onto the rubber), then stamped it on the Vanilla cardstock.  Tucked just behind the main image is part of a Scalllop Circle that I cut out on the Big Shot then embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder – just a bit of a different way of using that Scallop Circle rather than having it as the base of a card or the focal point.

Well I like this card quite a bit so I’m off to make another 9 of them so that I can mail them off to some of my Stampin’ Up! team members this week.

If you have any questions on this card or would like to purchase any Stampin’ Up! products please feel free to email me.

Rubber Stamps:
Pendant Park

Inkpads/Markers:
Always Artichoke
Not Quite Navy
Chocolate Chip Marker

Cardstock & Paper:
Kraft (soon to be renamed “Crumb Cake”)
Not Quite Navy
Naturals Ivory (for the Scallop Circle)
Very Vanilla
Chocolate Chip
Bella Bleu Designer Series Paper

Accessories:
Antique Brass Build-a-Brad

Tools:
1/2″ Circle Punch
Word Window Punch
Big Shot die-cutting machine
Scallop Circle Die (used with Big Shot)
Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder (used with Big Shot)

Adhesives:
SNAIL Adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals