Christmas Toile for Atlantic Hearts

Hi Everyone.  Happy Saturday.

I actually have two cards for you tonight.  They are both made using sketches from (a new to me) sketch site called Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.  I made one for the challenge last week, but missed the submission deadline.  However, I do want to share it with you – so you can see it further down this post.

In the meantime, here is this week's sketch:

When I saw the shape at the top, I decided to bring out my old Memory Box branch die and combine that with the cardinal from Christmas Toile.  I die cut the branch and then colored it with my pencils.  I stamped the cardinal and used my pencils to color him, too.  I sketched the outline of the branch as it would be placed on the card base and then used my blending brushes to blend a blue background around the top of the bird.

When I die-cut it, it was just a little too white against the blue background.  So, I took a pencil and tried to match a similar color to the background and used that around the edge of the die-cut so the white wouldn't stand out as much.  For the bottom of the bird, against the white background, I left it alone:-)

Here's my card:

I just love this stamp set and this branch is one of those things that is never likely to leave my collection!

Now, I want to share last week's challenge with you.  This was a pretty challenging sketch… but isn't that the reason to do CHALLENGES!  It took me a little while to work out what I wanted to do with it, then I had this idea to use my sunray stencil and the lighthouse from Sailing Home.  I loved the way it turned out.

Here's my take on the sketch:

For the lighthouse, I used my Copics to put down a base color and then added all the detail in with my pencils.  I fussy cut it and then popped it against the sunrays.

I'll be back tomorrow with my Paper Players card – and some wildlife shots!  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

• Stamps:  Christmas Toile, Sailing Home – Stampin' Up!
• Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White