challenge cards Archives - Cricketleg Creative

“Favorite Technique” Challenge

February 23, 2021 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Two entries into the Simon Says Stamp Favorite Technique Challenge…but how can I pick favorites?!

Well, hi!

I tell ya, every time a “favorite technique” challenge pops up I find it hard to choose! I love lots of different techniques. But then I remember…oh yeah, I love ink blending backgrounds. Especially skies.

And since I have a few new additions in my stamp collection, I thought it a good time to combine them with ink blending.

So, here you go…

Mahalo Floral Card

The latest card kit from Hero Arts is phenomenol! Lots of images and dies to play with. It’s been so cold and wet here lately in eastern North Carolina and having fun with some tropical whimsy is just what I need right now!

I wasn’t really sure where I was going with this when I started, but I like where I ended up! I stamped the flowers and leaves using masking, and colored them in with Copic markers. Then, I used Copic markers to make the water background.

In hindsight it would have been much easier to stamp, color, and die cut all those images out. But I do like that there’s no white border around them. So it’s fine; just hard to do the background around all that detail.

I used Glossy Accents from Ranger to make wavy lines over the blue ink background and let it dry. I stamped some other leaves from the Hero Arts set and placed those around the sentiment that I stamped. All those images are from that Hero set.

You Warm My Heart Card

The stamps that made this very sweet campfire card are from an Avery Elle stamp set. I’m a bit lacking in the cute critter stamp category, so I recently purchased this set. I love campfires so this one was a no brainer.

I stamped the images I wanted to use first, then colored them with Copic markers, being careful to add some yellow glow to the sides facing the fire. (That racoon gave me some trouble, but that’s in their nature I suppose.)

Once those were ready, I placed them on a notecard just to see where I might want my horizon line. I set them aside and masked off that horizon. For this card I used stamp pads and blending brushes for a softer, more subtle blend. I started in the center where I knew the campfire would be, with yellow. Then a light brown around that, and a darker brown on the outer edge. Same basic idea for the sky.

With a few trees stamped at the sides, I was ready to glue my critters in place. After that it was just a matter of adding starts and sentiment.

I have to say, I think my favorite element on this card is the splatterware mug! I couldn’t help myself there!

Both cards have a blended background. One uses Copic blending and the other uses stamp pads with blending brushes. Both are fun!

View my other challenge cards here.

So there you go! Y’all take care!

“Something New” Challenge

January 12, 2021 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Well, hi! And welcome to the entries for the most recent Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge theme of “Something New.”

Fortunately, I have a good amount of “something new” items to choose from as Christmas and my birthday are pretty close on the calendar. I’ve been able to receive and hand pick a few juicy items!

So without further ado, here are my four entries into this “Something New” Challenge. Let’s go!

Sunshine

While it wasn’t a Christmas or birthday gift, it is nonetheless new. What am I talking about? The December Hero Arts kit items used to make this sunshine card. I just barely blogged about this card, so if you’d like to read up on it, you can check it out here.

I love how this card turned out. Very simple and clean and features one of my very favorite subjects to create……SKIES!!!

Snowflakes

Another recent kit treasure is from Simon Says Stamp. It’s the January card kit of the month and it’s sold out! No wonder, as it’s pretty awesome.

It came with all sorts of juicy stuff, as you can see below.

For this card I used some of the stamps from the stamp set as well as the snowflake die. I stamped some of the snowflakes with Versamark ink and used white sparkle embossing powder (I believe from Hero Arts) to finish them off.

The background is made using ink blending brushes and blue, pink, and purple ink. To give the background a mottled appearance I sprayed it with a fine water mist. But that didn’t give me quite enough texture. So I sprayed it with Distress Resist Spray and let that dry. I then reapplied some of the ink blending to intensify the color and contrast. Love it.

To give it some interest, I cut up the card and mounted it onto metallic silver paper. The sentiment and the die cut snowflake have that same paper. Kind of fun.

Hello Floral I

My daughter gave me some lovely patterned paper for my birthday the other day, along with some other paper crafting goodies! (Thanks, Audrey!) So I thought for my “Something New” Challenge I could use that paper.

The floral pack of paper is just gorgeous and also has a texture to it. I love black and floral, so I paired some black cardstock with this black and pink floral. Wanting to do something a little different, I decided to use some greenery die cuts and use the negative space left behind as the design.

The “hello” is die cut from the center and then filled back in with a white cardstock die cut. To give it some shimmer, I used my Spectrum Noir glitter brush both on the greeting and on the negative space die cuts.

To finish off the card, I used white and black glitter tapes to create a border around the card. Paired with a lovely pink envelope I think it makes a charming card.

Hello Floral II

After all that die cutting, I didn’t want to waste what came off the above card. So I decided to use those “scraps” to make another card. A sister card to the one above.

After playing around with it for a while, I decided to use that white glitter tape to make horizontal stripes on the card. That scalloped circle makes a nice backdrop for the sentiment from the first card. I mounted that with foam tape so it sits above the paper.

The greenery die cuts from the first card are glued and tucked under that circle. Also charming.

And fast. I love using scraps from one card to make another. It’s a great tip!

Okay, there you have it. Four entries this time for the “Something New” Challenge. And now I’m off to work on a custom client order. I don’t do those often. You can see what premade cards I have for sale in my Etsy shop.

Y’all take care!

“New/Unused Product” Challenge

January 8, 2021 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Well, hi! Welcome to a perfectly timed challenge entry for the new/unused product theme from this Monday’s Simon Says Stamp challenge.

Why is it perfectly timed? Not only do I get to use a Christmas present for today’s card; I also get to use my Hero Arts kit from December. I took a stamping break but I keep thinking about this awesome kit and am so excited to put it to good use today!

The circle/cloud die from the set is cut from an A2 white side-folding card. I also die cut another out of scrap but added a plain circle die to the outer edge so I could glue it on top. The set comes with a single cloud die that I cut twice from white cardstock and glued to the inner scene.

That inner scene is created using the sun and rays stamps from the set. The sky is created with an ink blending brush to create the gradation of color in the sunrise. I added some sparkle I used my new Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen for the sun and the rays. Hard to see in the pic, but it’s there and adds a really nice touch.

The sentiment is from the stamp set and is stamped on a piece of scrap cardstock and adhered with foam tape to the front of the card.

It’s simple but I think it’s stunning!

Only one for this time. I’m still gearing back up after the holidays. To see some of my other challenge projects, visit this link.

Y’all take care!

“Sparkle & Shine” Challenge

January 5, 2021 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Here are a few entries into the Simon Says Stamp “Sparkle & Shine” Challenge.

Well, hi! It’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted. I took a much needed break and now I’m back in the swing of things and ready to start doing challenges again.

Today, I have a few entries into the latest Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

Never Let Anyone Dull Your Sparkle

How fitting!

This striking card is made by using double stick tape and glitter. I just arranged the tape in vertical lines, starting with the wider tape. Then I poured glitter over the entire card. It sticks to the tape! After that, I just repeated the same steps using the narrower tape and a different glitter color.

The sentiment was made in Canva and printed out onto cardstock. I then trimmed the top and bottom of the cut out sentiment with more tape and glitter and attached it to the card.

Easy! And super sparkly. Looks very New Years-y to me too!

Birthday Girl

Although this card is fairly simple in design, I think the impact is high! I love the combination of two papers that have different patterns but the exact same tone on tone colors. The metallic gold paper and Motherlode embossing powder for the sentiment really make this card sparkle and shine!

Out of This World

For Christmas I received a fun Lawn Fawn stamp and die set from one of my kids. And I’m so excited to be able to use it now!

I stamped some images from the set onto white cardstock and colored them in with Copic markers. Once they were done, I used the coordinating dies to cut them out.

The background for the images was made using watercolors. It took a while to build up the color, but it was so fun to do! I’d like to keep working on this technique to really get it down. But I’m happy with this first attempt at a watercolor galaxy type background. Once the paint was all dry I splattered the surface with both white goache and a metallic gold paint to get that….sparkle and shine!

Party Animal

This card is for my daughter’s 25th birthday. I’ve been itching to use this cute birthday stamp set from My Favorite Things since I bought it a few weeks ago. I love the simple lines of the images. Clean. Fun.

I stamped three of the scenes from the set onto cardstock and colored them in with Copic markers, keeping the color palette fairly small. I wanted the overall effect to be more subtle since I used a metallic gold accented paper background. But I did trim out each scene in gold metallic tape.

So, there you go. Four entries all with some kind of sparkle, shine, or both! Fun challenge!

Stay tuned for further posts and challenge entries! To see my last challenge post you can go here.

Y’all take care, and have a Happy New Year!

“Let It Snow” Challenge

December 14, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

Just two entries this time for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the “Let It Snow” theme.

Today I have two great entries into the Simon Says Stamp “Let It Snow” challenge. I love them both. ‘Cuz I love snow. Each card entry has snow but using two different media.

Snowy Greenery

If this card looks familiar, it’s because I also used it in the Monday challenge. This is the one I almost gave up on; so glad I didn’t. I really love the final result. Snowy and beautiful!

Christmas greenery stamp is from Simon Says Stamp. The sentiment is printed from my computer (and is crooked, dangit…oh well).

The snow for this card was made using watered down goache (opaque white watercolor). I used a paintbrush to splatter it on over the top of my ink blending and “failed” resist spray.

New House

My daughter and her husband closed last week on a new home. I thought it would be fun to create a housewarming card with some seasonal charm. But I also wanted to make it look like I had a stamp of their house!

pic to line drawing conversion — (Having more than one image was helpful so I could test colors and techniques)

This tutorial helped me to turn a photograph of their new home into a line drawing in Photoshop. Printed out in grayscale, it has the look of a line drawing or possibly a very detailed stamp. I colored it in with Copic markers (the front doors have wreaths drawn in but it’s hard to see) and then I went to town with the white gel pen!

And I’m so happy with my recent purchase of the Boxun white gel pens. So far they are working out great! Easy flow and I love them. I’ll have to report back on how they do over time.

Anyway, I spent way too long (but it was fun) adding in hundreds of tiny snow dots as well as some larger snow blobs for depth. Once that was done, I die cut a “frame” from dark brown paper and added gold accents with a gold metallic gel pen.

Mounted onto plaid paper and with a cozy “Home Sweet Home” sentiment, this card is complete and I love it! It was so satisfying to work on. I love learning new things! I may use this photo-to-line-drawing technique in the fugure. Combining tech and art has always been fun for me!

Here’s a close up:

You may be thinking, “Lady, the grass and trees are green….how can it be snowing?” Hmmm. I guess you’d have to live in eastern North Carolina to understand the dichotomy. It happens, folks.

Y’all take care!