Simply Sketchy Morning

A day off work - with orders to NOT log in and check on things - so I am playing in the craft room this morning - then a play date with my daughter and granddaughter.   Here is one of her latest photos.

Isn't she precious.  She had just had her bath and was ready to meet the rest of us at The Cheesecake Factory.  We had a great time celebrating Aunt Rebekah's birthday and stuffing ourselves on delicious food. 

Anyway, this morning I grabbed one of my new stamp sets, Simply Sketched. It is one of the new hostess sets.  I have always loved the 'sketch-type' stamp sets and this one is really lovely.   The other day I did this card - you might remember it.

I used one of the sketches and sentiments from the set.  Looks great just stamped but I played a little bit more with the two other sketches in the set this morning. 
I knew I wanted to do some things with the floral stamp and the leaves so stamped up several using Basic Gray and then colored them in using the markers and blender pens.

The flower looks like the oriental poppies my parents had in a flower bed.  They were bright orange but I'm not a lover of orange so I tried a variety of colors.  From left to right - Calypso Coral, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Strawberry Crush, Real Red, and Melon Mambo.  I used Wild Wasabi for the green on all of them. Some have the leaf image stamped alongside the flower.

So here is what I came up with using ideas I saw on the demonstrators' website and just letting my imagination go as I worked on each card.

Calypso Coral - This one I did not color the flower but stamped a second image on Calypso card stock and cut out the flowers.  I adhered them using dimensionals.   When I stamped the flower and leaf image on the Whisper White, I stamped off (ink the stamp, stamp on another sheet of card stock and then without re-inking stamped it on this one).  That gives it a fainter look more like a pencil sketch.   I used some retired designer paper (DSP) to accent the background.  The mat pieces and the Fabulous Phrases sentiment are Midnight Muse.  I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to get my words lined up. 

 

Pumpkin Pie - I colored in the floral image using the markers.  For the leaves in the background, I scribbled a marker on an acrylic block and then picked up a little ink using a blender pen.  I used some retired DSP in the background with a piece of Wild Wasabit to accent.   Very simple and easy.

Daffodil Delight - I colored this with the markers and added a little Calypso Coral in the center of the flower.  The leaves were stamped off along the card front and a piece of retired Wild Wasabi DSP added.   Calypso Coral card stock and ribbon and it is done.

Strawberry Slush - this is one of the new IN colors. Very nice!  I colored this one using the markers.  The sentiment is from Petite Pairs.   The ribbon is the new ruffled stretch ribbon in Strawberry Slush and I used some Soft Suede card stock embossed with the Herringbone folder in the background.

Real Red - some more retired DSP - sorry, I have so MUCH of that I have vowed to use up at least one package before buying any new.  :-)  I used Basic Black for matting and the Lovely Little Labels stamp set.  A few of the pearls in the corner to make it 'sweet'. 

 

Melon Mambo - And some more reitired DSP.  Some Elegant Eggplant behind the image to make it stand out.  The card base is Old Olive - not an exact match for the stems but the paper has Old Olive leaves so went with that. 

So those are my six - and I love each one :-)  Here are a couple more that I did with ideas from some other cards I saw.

I stamped off the image with Basic Gray then cut out an oval using the Ovals Framelits.   I cut a smaller oval from a piece of the heavy card stock that comes in the DSP packages (yes I save all of those - never know when you might need one ).   I placed the image behind the smaller oval opening to use the smaller oval as a stencil.  I held it up to the light so I could be sure I had it centered.   I sponged Sahara Sand ink on the image. Removed the stencil and I had a sort of reverse-frame effect. 
The larger scalloped oval is cut using the largest oval framelit.  I embossed it using the Polka Dot embossing folder and trimmed off one side.  The card base is Strawberry Slush and the sentiment is from Petitie Pairs.  I'll be trying this reverse frame using my more of the nested framelits.

 

Another Calypso Coral one.  I stamped off the images and randomly stamped the leaves around a larger piece of card stock. Then trimmed it down to the size I wanted.  The coloring was all done with blender pens and ink from the markers.  I also stamped off the sentiment - the Basic Gray is too dark for me, almost looks black.  I am going to like the new Smoky Slate but I wanted something between the two for this one.  I used a Wild Wasabi candy dot on the sentiment and mounted it on Calypso Coral.  Love the candy dots - they add interest like a brad but not the bulk.  Will be stocking up on those (glad they don't cost much).

Had so much fun this morning!  Let me know which card is your favorite.  I think mine is the Strawberry Slush.