Sketch-o-rific!!!

what a fabulous fortnight of sketchy shenanigans ♥JINGLE BELLES♥! once again we thank everyone who played along; there was not a single card we did not love, beacuse you never fail to amaze us with your cleverness and creativity. many thanks to the mega-talented brenda barton for providing the sketch, not to mention a boatload of inspiration. here are a few takes that really made us sit up and take notice!

shelley germann of stampin' garden

brilliantly stamped on a patchwork of scraps for her charming and sophisticated design! 

 

deborah frings of deborah's gems

combined beautiful coloring with the softness of vellum to produce a multi-faceted and multi-layered effect!

lisa j. of snowy moose creations

went with a clean and simple approach which definitively proves that less can be more... if you have the talent to pull it off!

we hope you'll stick with us until midnight, when we'll have a brand new prompt for you, as well as our first lovely sponsor of 2013! ♥

More Sketching Shenanigans

With a sketch as lovely as the one Brenda Barton made for us, how can *anyone* stop at just one card?

We couldn't, and we hope that you won't either!

Brenda's Other Card

Brenda says, "For the snowman card, I used snowman for the "tall" design element in the sketch. To add some dimension, I tore the half circle on the left and included a few falling snowflakes. The snowman was easy to put together because I used a punch and simply added the face with markers and added highlights with a colored pencil. For the snow under the snowman, I added torn white cardstock."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "For my second card, I flipped the sketch and created a little gift card pocket by scoring a 12" piece of cardstock.  I used brads to attach a strip of designer paper (fortified with a layer of cardstock) as a band to tuck in the pocket flap (you can see an open view on my blog). Papers are all from Simple Stories Homemade Holiday."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "My starting point this time was a reduced color copy of this beautiful illustration from one of my treasured vintage copies of "The Night Before Christmas", which I wanted to use because I remembered the image of Santa's sleigh silhouetted against a big, full, moon. Well, it turns out I must've remembered that wrong, because NONE of my copies contain such a picture, but I was committed to the idea, lol, so I just went ahead and made my own moon, and I think it came out pretty well!"

Be sure to scroll down and check out your fellow belles' lovely work, then link up with us-- or link up again-- before next Wednesday!

Sketching in a Winter Wonderland

We're thrilled to have lovely guest star Brenda Barton joining us this week with a fabulous sketch for our creative inspiration.  Brenda's beautiful work can be seen on her blog, Brenda's Crafty Corner, as well as at The Sketch File where she is a design team member. We're so excited by her wonderful sketch we cannot wait any longer to show it, and then we'll let Brenda herself tell you a little about the process of creating it and her own gorgeous card!

And now here are our takes on this great sketch:

 Brenda's Card

Brenda says, "I decided to try my hand at designing a card sketch with Microsoft Paint, a computer program I've never really used. Both the sketch and card came together quickly. To create the card, I stuck to the sketch very closely with the exception of the colors. In the sketch I used cream and turquoise. I didn't have any turquoise cardstock, but have plenty of dark green. I started by cutting diamonds of graduated sizes from scrap pieces of cream cardstock, halved some of them and arranged them in the shape of a tree. I added a hand cut tree trunk and highlighted it with a white colored pencil. Next I used a paper crimper to add texture to a piece of green cardstock and used it as a mat on the cardbase. I added a half circle on the left and attached a strip of green to it. I used punched stars and a handwritten sentiment to finish the card."

Lauren's Card
Lauren says, "I had a completely different idea, which used Brenda's gorgeous sketch in a more traditional way, but flipping through my fabulous MME "All is Bright" paper pad, I found the perfect curve... being used as a sort of bunting at the top; which made me decide to rotate the sketch, add a few more fussy-cut collage elements, and layer the heck out of everything! I have to say (rather immodestly!) that I am pretty pleased with the results!" 

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I used a snowman from The Crafty Christmas Stack by DCWV, Chipboard Snowflakes and Buttons from Paper Issues, and an SRM Sentiment sticker for this quick and festive holiday card."

Now we cannot wait to see what ♥YOU♥ will do with Brenda's beautiful sketch! Link up here between now and Wednesday, February 27 at 6pm (EST). Keyword for galleries and our Flickr group is JB:13:04. Have fun, and be creative!