Sunday 24 April 2016

More Gnome cards... and another challenge!

This morning as I was browsing around blogland I came across a card challenge that inspired me.  CAS(E) this Sketch! is a Clean and Simple card challenge blog.

I'm jumping on board with Sketch #169:

When I first saw this sketch an idea popped into my head immediately except that I kept thinking it didn't 'quite' work for me... and then I flipped the sketch around and it worked PERFECTLY for what I had in mind!

Sometimes in life, we just need to stand on our heads I guess LOL

Since I'm still totally loving my gnome stamps from My Favorite Things You Gnome Me I decided to use a few of them for my card.  I also had this quote flowing around in my head:

You'll get where I'm heading soon... hopefully :)

I started off by die cutting some watercolour paper with my stitched border die.  I wanted to add a grassy strip without adding extra layers to the card, so I die cut a piece of card with My Favorite Things Grassy Fields, masked off a border area and used Distress Ink Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn to create some grass and I love how it turned out... I'll definitely be using this technique again!

Next I die cut and stamped the images I wanted to use and then I coloured them using Distress Ink markers.

Then came the bit I tend to find a bit tricky... actually designing the layout of my card.  I used my MISTI stamping tool because I wanted to add my sentiment before adhering all the elements onto the card.

Of course I wanted to make them 'the same but different' so I had to swap the sentiment and coloured images around for my second card.

After stamping the sentiment I went ahead and added my coloured images using thin foam dots.

At this point you might be wondering about how I was going to incorporate the friendship quote.  My daughter (Krystal) has been buying lots of little things off the internet lately and there always seems to be tiny parcels arriving from all over the world.  Yesterday a 'squishy' parcel arrived and Krystal told me it was for me... and it was a bag of the tiniest rhinestones I've ever seen!  LOTS of different colours and just perfect for adding to cards.

I decided that the gnome could be digging for precious jewels (friends) so I carefully added them to my card... and my Quickstik tool was invaluable!!!

The photos don't really show how sparkly the rhinestones are but they catch the light really well... I think Krystal will be impressed that I've already used them!

The final step was to add the watercolour card onto some Kraft cardstock and then onto the card base:

So here are my finished cards... super pleased that my 'idea' turned out so well!

So there you have it... another couple of cards made and another challenge done!

Thanks for visiting xx

7 comments:

  1. Oh, these are so fun! I love how you rotated the sketch!

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    1. Thanks Leigh... I really enjoyed this challenge :)

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  2. Congratulations on your honourable mention. I love these gnomes, they're too cute. Cara x

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  3. These are absolutely darling, Shell! Way to turn the sketch on its head and congratulations on the well-deserved recognition from CTS!! It's a pleasure to meet you (how have I not met you before?!) and become your newest follower! I hope you'll want to visit and follow me, too! Enjoy your day!! Hugs, Darnell

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    1. Thank you so much Darnell :) I loved visiting your blog and your 'playhouse' is totally adorable!

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  4. Love these! They are absolutely adorable. I especially like how you used the rhinestones as rocks. ;)

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Thanks, Shell xx