NEW LAYOUT AND CHRISTMAS CARDS TO SHARE!!

Hi!! Once again sorry I haven't had a chance to post all week. Things have been very hectic around here! So I thought I'd quickly jump on to share with you some of my most recent creations while my Son is busy swimming in the pool with Nana! Before I get started though I just wanted to let everyone know, for those of you haven't read my last post, that I have turned the word verification for comments off. I know it can be agonizingly difficult and time-consuming so no longer will you have to worry!!

First up today is a layout I made for Sketchabilities, challenge #104, you can see the post here. I had never actually heard of these guys before until I did a search on sketch challenges the other day, and instantly I fell in love. Of course I couldn't resist the temptation to make a layout based on their most recent sketch, so I pulled out some of my fave materials and got stuck into playing around!! I really love how this layout turned out, and I think I will have to use this color combo far more often in the future!!

Here is sketch 104 from Sketchabilities:

 

And here is what I came up with:

 

'Your Smiley Face is My Happy Place'

As you can see I have added lots of embellishments to suit my style, in place of the banner I have instead added a long title, and I have moved everything slightly down the page as well as placed my photo off center.

Some of the brands used on here include Kaisercraft, Pink Paislee, Prima, Studio Calico and Tim Holtz.

I have used my normal process for the background, gesso, texture paste and mask, watercolor paints, ink splatters and drips, however this time I have also added another hand-painted watercolor bow with rub-ons from the She Art Collection, embossing powder, gold glitter and glitter 'drips'. I had so much fun working with all this different media, and I love the final result!!

Lots of close-up::

In keeping with the sketch, I have of course, added the drips of paint all under the photo, along with some washi tape and a lightbulb (for the little ring under the bottom left corner under the photo). I have added cork arrows from Studio Calico as well, pointing down in the direction of the paint drips. 

In place the circle punched paper and staples on the bottom right of the sketch I have instead used a cluster of flowers and embellishments as I still wanted my own style to show through this design.

I have included quite a few layers in behind my photo. This was one thing I really loved about the sketch and felt no need to 'add' to. As I said at the start, in place of a banner I have instead added a long title, although I decided I would still be inspired by the chevrons that were behind the banner. For this I have added just a couple of triangles, just above the title, pointing towards my photo instead of away from it.

 

At the top of my photo I have added half a Prima flower along with some pegs. I didn't want to differ from the sketch too much, but at the same time, I don't do well with tabs, not sure I even own any!! This is why I decided to add some pegs, and the flower.

I have been dying to make one of these Indian inspired arrows for so long, the ones made by Leeann Pearce (check out her blog here), and then the gold-dipped feathers by Stacey Young (see here). These were among my faves and I had to give them a try! Thanks for the inspiration ladies!! I have wrapped the stem with some natural twine and cut the arrow from Prima paper. I then added some glue to the edge of the arrow and dipped in gold glitter. I love the way it turned out. As the arrow sits on top of the flower giving it a bit of height from the page I felt something was needed to help fill the gap. I have chosen to use one of my fave pieces from Pink Paislee's Artisan Elements collection,

In keeping with the sketch I have added a few side banners under my photo, though the sketch has just one slightly above the photo, I did not think this really mattered.

 Here you can see the bottom of my arrow.... I love it, can't wait to make another!! 

I have also added a Kaisercraft mini-bloom to the center of a bottle cap from Prima's mechanical's collection, and a Prima wood ticket.

You can see some of the dimension this layout has really well here.

 As I was going through some of my layouts the other day, I came across one I did using a picture of my Mom, which I had painted a bow onto. Looking at it I decided it was something I really liked and enjoyed and thought I would do it again. I'm actually surprised at how similar they look.... almost identical!!! However I decided that this one need something to mess it up a bit, so it looked 'not so neat', to better fit with the distressed style of my layout. That's where the Pink Paislee She Art Rub-ons came in. I used white and just roughly rubbed them on, scratching some off when I was done to distress the image even more.

I love the contrast this added to the bow!!

To finish off my page I added the title, using a combination of Authentique word stickers and Glitz alphas, some MME enamel dots, and half of a Prima flower down the bottom of the page for balance.

This sketch was really great to work with, so many exciting possibilities.... I'm really happy with the way this layout turned out, how could I not be, the best part about it is that gorgeous little smile on Jet's face!!!

Next up today I though I would quickly share these 2 fun Christmas cards I made. Whilst visiting Pink Paislee's Studio Blog last night, I noticed that they had a couple of free Christmas printables, and I was really inspired. I instantly had endless ideas pouring through my head so I sat down, and here is what I came up with.

'Peace, Love, Joy'

This first one is probably my favorite of the two!! The card itself was made with a sheet of card from my 12x12 Mistables Pack by Pink Paislee, to which I have added masking and texture paste, green glimmer mist red watercolor flicks, ranger liquid pearls in white and gold embossing powder (not heat-set).

 I have also used paper's and rub-on's from their She Art Collection and of course the free printables. See their blog here.

I printed out the title, 'Peace, Love, Joy', on plain computer paper then backed it onto some Kraft card, layering it on twine, calico and the side banners. I added some red baker's twine on top too! Then I cut out the reindeer very carefully and placed it on the top.

To finish off I have added half a Prima flower behind the title at the top, some ribbon, broken jewellery pieces, button and thread and some green Woolworth's paper clips.

This second card was made using much of the same process and materials though this time, aside from adding blue, I have made the 'Peace, Love, Joy' print out, a part of the background, instead using chipboard letters from the Mistables collection for my title.

I have also covered the reindeer for this card in gold glimmer mist and gold embossing powder, which once again I haven't heat set. This gave the reindeer the appearance of having fur which was an unexpected but welcome result.

So that's it from me today, I hope you found something on here to inspire you as it did me. The inspiration you can find these days be it a sketch, or a free printable is just amazing and the finished projects that it can lead to. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!! Thanks for stopping by!