Masculine and Pencil Work

 

Getting down to those dog days of summer in the Northern Hemisphere!  We were driving this weekend through Alberta and the fields are looking ready for harvest, and some farmers are already at work.  All of our kids start school this fall, (teaching or University) and I’m longing for some temperatures that are just a bit cooler.  I picked up a new Stampin’ Up! set over Sale A Bration called Stylish Sketches.  It has a nice loosely drawn feel that is perfect for a more masculine style, and since I’m starting to lean a little more to Autumn, I pulled out my Prismacolor Pencils and some Kraft cardstock and coloured up a couple of cards using this set.  

These two ducks are a lovely pair and white pencil pops so well on Kraft cardstock.  I first laid down a layer of white pencil and then added in the greys, browns and almost iridescent blue/greens that comprise the ducks.  

The layout uses some patterned paper I had in my stash and a woodcut die from The Greetery.  

The sentiment is from a retired SU set, little friends.  I love that typewriter font.  

For this design I went decidely more fall with warm shades for the fox from the set.  I just saw a fox traipsing across our pathway when we were on the motorcycle last weekend in a National Park.  He tucked right into the woods, so I mostly saw his body and tail escaping.  Red Fox have such a nice combination of rust, grey and white that I tried to convey in the colouring, again laying down white pencil first and then adding colour over top.  The mustard cardstock has a basketweave stencil to pull in a bit more rich colour.  

The patterned paper is from Craft Consortium and I’ve added die cut leaves with some distress ink sponging to really capture that autumn feel.  

He does look ready for adventure doesn’t he?  

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Masculine and Pencil Work

Welcome, Little Chick!

A good friend of mine had a brand new baby girl last week.  She is just so precious and tiny and velvety!  My friend's firsborn was a boy, so now she has someone to be girly with too.  One of the gifts I often get for friend’s babies is to get them Robeez shoes (they are my favourite).  I found an adorable pair that is girly pink with gold hearts and gold bows on the backs.  I paired the shoes with a cute little flowery hair bow, so now she’s set for showing off her girlyness.  We’re so grateful for her little life.  

To go along with the little gift I made a pretty in pink spring card using a cute set from SU called Everybunny.  That little spring chick is so cute!  I pulled out the prismacolor pencils for a change and gave her some soft colour, and tried to make her extra fluffy.  

For the sentiment I used a set from PaperTrey Ink called Simple Sentiments.  For fun I added some pink pom pom ribbon, some fun washi tape, and a heart veneer that I pressed into white craft ink.  Cute cute cute!  

And here she is!  What a blessing!

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Welcome, Little Chick!

Best of 2015 - Part 2

I’m back with round two of my favourite designs from 2015.  You know what I’ve realized looking at my favourites?  The designs I like best actually gravitate toward a more clean design.  That’s a bit of a surprise to me!  I don’t think I’ll ever be a CAS girl, but I do prefer a well executed clean design more than others.  That’s one neat thing about looking at a whole year of designs.  

July

Ranunculus

Show Me the Monkey

August

Shabby Sunflowers

Oh Crab

September

Keep Climbing Clematis

When Pigs Fly

October

Be Merry

Birthday Apples

Mountain Wedding

November

A-Maize-ing

Watercoloured Poinsettias

Partridge in a Pear Tree

December

Nativity Triptych

Hello Posies

Thanks for stopping by to see this round of favourites!  I look forward to creating again in 2016.  Do you have any creative goals for the year ahead?  I’ve got some brewing in my head.  Let’s enjoy it all together!  

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Best of 2015 - Part 2

A Nativity Triptych

Welcome!  Today I’m playing with another one of my found images.  These are stamped items I had coloured up, and was intending to make into cards long ago, but completely forgot about them!  They’re like little treasures everytime I discover one!  Today’s is a lovely one.  This is with Stampin’ Up’s set Holy Triptych.  I still think it is one of their most elegant sets to date.  I had embossed the design onto watercolour paper and watercoloured the images in rich but almost neutral tones, using my SU markers and a waterbrush.   I thought it would be a great trio of images to make into a triptych design to decorate with this Christmas.  Triptych literally means three-fold.  Its traditionally a piece of art that is divided into three sections and held together by hinges in between the panels, and it can be folded shut or displayed open...there’s your little bit of Wikipedia knowledge for today!

I think what also makes this design classy is the use of these Spellbinders dies.  These dies are called Radiant Rectangles.  The layering of the cut pieces really showcases the scenes like little mini portraits.

Here are the Magi.  As you can see I edged the ovals in a shimmery gold metallic ink and I also sponged it onto the first burgundy layer as well.  That metallic shimmer is really pretty.  

I doubled up each large burgundy die cut piece to give the whole thing more stability, so the back is finished as well.  Between the triptych pieces I added a piece of scored cardstock so the panels fold in and then added a gold metallic brad to also hold it firmly together.  

Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus are also watercoloured and I’ve added some shimmery pen to the star and halo around Jesus.  

And finally the lovely angel.  I think it’s a beautiful piece and it will find a home on our mantle with some of our other decorations.  I do love nativity scenes and we have a number of them!  

We haven’t even put up our tree yet.  Hopefully this weekend, so this piece is my first decoration!  

See you tomorrow friends!

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A Nativity Triptych

Round Snow Men

I picked up a pack of MME's Merry 6 x 6 paper from Michaels and the cutie little snow men were begging to be made into a card.  I paired it with my old SU set Snow Buddies, and they look like they were made for each other.  I love all the round little snow men and their chubby bellies.  Especially paired with this week's Mojo Sketch with lots of round elements.

The white background snowflakes are embossed to add texture, and I added a little touch of glitter on a 1/8 inch Scor Tape strip along the bottom because I thought it needed another touch of shine, and to ground the images.  Coloring on the little snow men with copics, and Spellbinders Circles and Picot Edge Circles.  Too cute :) And another card for the stash!

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Round Snow Men

9

It seems to be the season of Birthday's again.  This weekend it was our youngest son's best friend who turned 9.  They had a nerf gun war party.  You can just imagine that household right?  Brave mother I tell you!

The Birthday boy's favourite color is red, and I had to quickly whip this one up on Saturday morning before he left for the party.

It's all SU.  I was digging through some old SU items and found a kit I didn't use for a 2009 calendar ....realizing that the 9 sticker would work perfectly for this card, as well as those little sticker arrow markers.  Super simple details, a little sewing, a little border punch, and a cute clothes pin told hold on the bDAY sentiment.  

And there you have it!  

Stamps:  SU - Extreme Skateboard, Calendar Cues;  Ink:  Riding Hood Red;  Paper:  Riding Hood Red, RHR Patterned paper;  Accessories:  Sewing Machine, Calendar Kit, mini Clothespin, Dimensionals, Pinked Hearts Border Punch.  

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9

He's A Small Wonder

Our wee little nephew that lives here just turned one.  At the time of his birthday he and my brother,  sister in law, my niece and my parents were all in Mexico, while we were braving the cold here :(  So we're celebrating his birthday after the fact, but hey, he's one he won't know the difference :)

Oh he's just precious to me.  So, I worked on a card I might use for him for his BDay.

Precious right?  It's new to me from SU!  Called Everybunny and I've paired it with lots of new SU thingys, new papers, new embossing folders and frames and twine....a bunch of fun stuff. 

Colored up with Prismacolors. 

And here's the handsome little guy himself a few weeks ago.   Cuter than cute and imitating someone razzing his tongue.  I love his baby-ness and I'm a little sad he's growing up so fast!  

and here he is playing a game pulling my Dad's beard.  So funny, Dad pretends it hurts and he giggles :)

Back late Tuesday night gang with Flourishes February Sneak Peeks!

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He's A Small Wonder