So my crazy schedule continues (after Saturday, I get a bit of a reprieve), but I have found a little bit of time to play in a few card challenges.  Since time is limited, I am going to leap right into it.

This week over at Inspired By All the Little Things, the designer team has given us a rather beautiful inspiration photo.  I was inspired by both the hearts and the idea of a candle.

I really wanted this card to be soft and airy.  I pulled out some water color paper and a heart from a Gorjuss Girl stamp pack and proceeded to stamp out the heart repeatedly in some Spun Sugar Distress Ink.  I grabbed a water pen and filled in all the negative space with the same Spun Sugar color.  I added a touch of Tattered Rose Distress Ink to the hearts giving them just a bit of shading.  I grabbed a ridiculously old candle stamp (seriously at least 10 years, was once one a wood block, and now striped from the wood and given a bit of stamp backing).  I stamped it out in a bit of navy Memento Ink and added another old sentiment stamp.  I added just a bit of yellow watercolor around the flame.  Finally I trimmed the card stock up and added some textured blue card stock.  I adhered everything to an A2 card, and called it a day.  In the end I think I got the soft airy look I was looking for.

The gurus of color over at Color Throwdown this week have a festive color challenge going on.  The colors for this week are red, pink and chocolate brown.  I was more inspired by the coffee photo than the idea of the colors.  I wanted to avoid making a valentines day card.

So being the rebel that I am, I pulled out an Art Impressions stamp featuring the desperate need for coffee.  I decided to play with the human rainbow today, and colored my gal in with a gorgeous chocolate skin tone.  Then I proceeded to add a bunch of fun reds and pinks to the red of the stamp using my copics.    I added a sentiment from the same stamp pack.  I trimmed the paper up, and added a bit of chocolate paper to one side and glued down a few pink and red crystals.  I kept this design fairly simple and feel that I met the color challenge, just in a really fun way.

Finally today we have a sketch challenge from the gals over at Freshly Made Sketches.  I was very inspired by one of the design teams photos and went off using a floral spot light design to met the sketch.

I have finally succumbed to the MISTI.  In fact it only arrived yesterday, and I know I could never have done this card with out it.  I pulled out a Winnie & Walter stamp pack and started stamping out the hydrangea flowers and leaves onto two different sheets of card stock.  I masked out the images where I need to get the look I was looking for.  I trimmed out the panels from on of the sheets of the card stock and adhered it to the other, matching the images as best I could.  Then I only colored the trimmed panels with my copics.  I think I pulled off the challenge, and frankly lover how this ended up looking.  I added a sympathetic sentiment from Avery Elle and finished the card, adding it to an A2 card frame.

That’s all, for at least the moment.  I may have some more time later today, and if I do, I will sneak in an extra post (I know, so not how I normally do things).  If I don’t, I’ll be back in the days to come with some new cards.