The Cheshire Grin

Shirley's 2 Girls (S2G) sell a wonderful line of digital stamps. All original images with lots of attitude! With the release of Alice in Wonderland the stamp world, digital and otherwise, has gone wild for Alice and company. S2G designed a wonderful line of digital stamps In a fresh, Tim Burton kind of style. They kindly offered the Cheshire Cat as a freebie for their Twisted Thursday blog challenge. They had the cat, a sketch and a twist- using stripes on the card.

Of course I was so excited to work with their stamp I totally forgot the sketch and the twist on my first card. When it was time to upload it I had an Oops! moment. That was ok. I loved getting to color and make up another card for the sketch. It was fun! http://s2gpapercraftingcontest.blogspot.com/

As most of my cards go to OWH I keep my eye open for stamps that can go to boys as well and girls. This handsome feline fits the bill. Thanks S2G!
http://shirleys2girls.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=31

Washi Valentines

Both of these are based on a sketch by Jen del Muro.

http://iheart2stamp.com/2009/12/26/up-for-grabs-sketch-for-you-to-try/ I came across the stamp stashed in a drawer and knew I wanted to use it. I love washi and origami papers but tend to hoard them, lol. The sketch and the stamp encouraged me to pull out the paper and play. It is difficult to tell but I used a brushed silver paper to mat and on the flower bases. Cuttlebug dies and a Dollar Tree punch.
On this one I did some paper piecing and some torn paper hearts. I had fun layering punchies to create the flower embellishments. The folk art heart dies are from Sizzix. The stamp used on both cards is from Stampabilities.

Scrappy Sketch

If you seem to have a lot of those little strips of colored and patterned paper left over from your cardmaking this sketch is for you.

You'll need a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" cardfront, a 1 1/16" x 5 1/2" scrappy strip (instructions below), and a focus piece in whatever shape you like. Pretty easy!

I like to make a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" piece of strips adhered to cardstock. [You don't have to do this but is makes enough Scrappy Strips to make 4 cards. You can make just the one strip for your challenge card.] Once you have covered your cardstock with strips cut it into 4 sections measuring 1 1/16" x 5 1/2". I like to layer this onto a piece of cardstock that is 1 3/8" x 5 1/2" to mat it. Tip: Choose your colors to work together and repeat patterns.

Now you get to choose your focus piece. The sketch shows it as a circle but it can be any shape you want. You might choose text on it or an image, a flower, chipboard, a button, really any embellishment.

Hope you feel inspired! Have fun creating your own Scrappy Strip card.