Playing with Challenging Sketches

As I mentioned in my last post, I made five cards on Wednesday. I'm not sharing two of them--they're SO bad!!--but I'll share these two. 

I was playing along with The Paper Players sketch for challenge number 501 and really struggled with it. The diagonal element in particular stymied me quite a bit. 

I finally settled on the card above, but it still felt a little too busy to my CAS loving heart. 

So, I made card number four:

Same stamps, same sentiment, but with fewer layers. I think the card above this is lovely, no question, and I really do like the combination of Granny Apple Green with Gorgeous Grape (which is such a rich color). My life is so cluttered and busy lately, this simpler card appeals more. :shrug:

Here's to less time on screens, less time scrolling, and more time being creative. It feeds my soul in a way electronics just don't. 

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Stamp Sets: Sweet Essentials, Summer Silhouettes, Branch Out (butterflies)

Paper: Heavy Whisper White, Gorgeous Grape

Ink: Granny Apple Green, Gorgeous Grape, Pool Party

Branching Out My Creative Muscles (see what I did there??)

I've not been as good about crafting as I had hoped to be, getting distracted by my tiny handheld computer screen (I'm looking at you, iPhone old friend). After a quick day trip to the mountains failed to remove the weight of anxiety and bluh I was feeling, I put my phone down.

Not completely. It's a bad habit, you see. I pick it up when I need a quick distraction (because IG is just so darn FUN!) and then get sucked in. This week, when I find myself starting to scroll, I've been doing something crafty instead.

I've done a lot of coloring (SU! Blends are so delightful to color with!), and today (after Lissie once again poked and prodded ;oP) I decided to see what I could do with this week's challenge over at The Paper Players.

When I used to play along, I found color and theme challenges fairly easy to do while sketches often stymied me.

This week was this sketch:

*GULP*

A sketch.

Of course it would be a sketch. 

:insert laughing face here:

I made five cards. Three of them were okay and two were awful. 

But, wait, I made FIVE cards! When was the last time I sat down and did that?!? And, you know what? Even with the two horrible duds, I had FUN!! :oD When was the last time I said I really had fun scrolling on IG? 

So, once again, thank you, Paper Players, for inspiring me to stretch my creative muscles and have fun getting inky and messy. :o)  

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Stamp Sets: Branch Out, Sweet Essentials

Paper: Heavy Whisper White

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lime Twist, Poppy Parade, Mango Melody, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Memento Tuxedo Black

Miscellaneous: dimensionals

How To:

*I inked up my D block with Coastal Cabana, stamped off twice and then used it to create the background

*The sentiment is a mashup of two in the Sweet Essentials set. I covered the words I didn't want to stamp with washi tape, inked the word I wanted, and then peeled the tape off. I had to use the Stamp-A-Majig because there was NO WAY I was positioning those words where I wanted them otherwise!

Tiny Teacups for a Birthday

2014, huh?

Seems it's been a hot minute since I posted anything over here...

Oops!

You see, my infant turned into a toddler who turned into a real live preschooler whose only way of living seemed to be "GO GO GO!" And, before I knew it, she was starting Kindergarten and swimming (any swim families out there??) and my older daughter was off to fourth grade and art classes and cello lessons.

That was in 2015.

Because that wasn't enough, I returned to work full-time. Trying to get my feet back under me was a super huge challenge and even after 5 years, it can still feel like a struggle at times (third-grade teacher, if that helps).

All my free time was no longer "free" and was instead eaten up with lesson planning and grading and running mom's taxi service. No more time to play with paper and visit blogs. No more time to explore ideas.

No. More. Time.

ARGH!!!!

Lissie has been after me for years to get back in my stamping space and make cards and I resisted. I had ZERO mojo left. Everything just seemed to be "meh" at best.

That said, I need the crafting outlet. With the uncertainty of the upcoming school year and whatnot, I'm a leeeeeeetle bit anxious.

Enter cards!

I've made a few here or there, but not posted.

Liss started to jumpstart her mojo by playing along with The Paper Players. I used to love playing along and decided this week's challenge was right up my alley.

I figure my cards are nothing if not CAS. Perfect!

And, I needed a birthday card for Paul. Teacups for the gent who loves nothing more than a good cuppa. :o)

Here's to a nice hot cuppa and a happy birthday!

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Stamp Set: Tiny Teacup, some sentiment from a long ago SU! Paper Pumpkin
Paper: Heavy Whisper White, Whisper White, Mango Melody
Ink: Poppy Parade, Mango Melody, Pineapple Punch, Lemon Lime Twist, Coastal Cabana, Gorgeous Grape
Miscellaneous: dimensionals to pop up the image