Saturday 9 February 2013

A Card Sketches Book and a Feathered Top Hat

Good morning!

It's the start of what's going to be a productive long weekend! That's my goal anyway :) I hope to complete a few custom orders, do some housecleaning, create a budget, do some baking, and more road trip researching! It's ambitious, but doable! In between my tasks on my to-do list, I want to enjoy the sunny mild winter weather that's forecasted for this weekend and catch up on a couple TV shows. Should be a great weekend!

When it comes to designing a greeting card, I often have to plan ahead on the layout, and decide on what colours, stamps, and accessories I'm going to use. I like to have a visual before I sit at my crafting table, so I sketch my ideas on paper. It started with drawing on notepads at work....

But these would end up scattered over my small workspace, making my desk look so cluttered! So, I thought of a solution... I went to my favourite crafting store - Michael's - and checked out the sketchbook aisle. They happened to have a sale that day - buy one, get one for 1 cent. Perfect! I found two small sketchbooks -- the perfect "purse-size". I decorated the front cover and voila!
 
Now all my sketches will be in one place!


I'm excited for this week's challenge!
The inspiration photo comes from a local Prince George artist. At the craft fairs that I participated in last fall, I met quite a few talented vendors, one of them being Amanda Jean of "Orange U CreativE". She is such a sweet and super-talented lady! She makes feathered creations from earrings to necklaces to head pieces. All of her stuff is so gorgeous! I purchased a few pairs of earrings from her and absolutely LOVE them!  (Check out her facebook page: Orange U CreativE) One of her unique items became the inspirational photo that I chose for this week's "Inspired By..." challenge:
 
 
This is a mini top hat to be used as a head piece. It is so unique! I love how it is all pieced together. I see elegance and 'wedding' when I see this photo. I sketched out an idea in my handy dandy sketchbook...
 
 
I thought of using a new technique that I hadn't tried yet. It's called the Starburst Technique. The stripes on the top hat made me think of this. I had seen a few samples on pinterest and have been meaning to try it! I will show you the step-by-step instructions. It's very simple!
 
1) Cut a piece of cardstock 4" x 5.25". It doesn't matter what colour - it will be covered up. I chose to use white.
 
2) Cut three pieces of patterned designer paper into strips of 1.5" x 4.5". (It can be three different patterns, or just two. I decided on two patterned papers for this card). Then cut each of these strips corner to corner so you end up with six triangles.
 


3) I sponged each triangle piece with Basic Gray to give it a softer, antique look. Arrange the triangles on the cardstock so that they slight overlap each other. Don't glue them down until you are happy with it. It should look something like this:
 
 
4) Trim around the base of the cardstock to clean up the edges:

 


5) Finish it off by adding a strip of cardstock on the bottom. It can be any colour that you like. In my case, I'm going to glue on a strip of Basic Black cardstock:
 
 
And there you have it! Simple, right?
 
Here's my completed card:
 
 
I scrunched up Cherry Cobbler seam-binding ribbon to tie it all together. The sentiment "happy I do day" is stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed with pewter embossing powder. I made paper feathers and added hearts and rhinestones to complete the card.
 
 
I may have tweeked my sketch a little bit as I was making the card, but I love the final product!
 
Make sure to stop by Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her!
 
Card Ingredients:
 
Stamps: Word Play
Paper: Basic Gray, Basic Black, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Neutrals Collection DSP
Ink: VersaMark
Tools: Labels Framelits, Heart to Heart punch, Heat tool
Accessories: Pewter Embossing Powder, Rhinestones, Cherry Cobbler seam-binding ribbon
 
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