You're a Great Catch! - GDP031 and Guest Designer Eli!

I have a special treat for you today!  I have my youngest (and first) guest designer!  If you follow me here on Instagram, you may have seen my little Eli watercoloring with me last week.  We were attempting to make bubble stationary with soap, water and food coloring.  It was an epic fail - certainly didn't work out like I remember as a child.  So we decided to get some reinkers out with watercolor paper and do something different!  Eli had fun and I was so amazed by the job he did!

So this weekend I sat down and made a card with the paper.  I received the From Land to Sea stamp set in the mail on Friday and wanted to try it out.  I was really pleased with the card and was planning to blog about it today when I saw the new challenge at Global Design Project was "nature"... PERFECT!  Btw, I'm so honored that I was chosen as GDP29's pick!  Thank you everyone! <3

(Click on the image below to go to the site and see all of the other nature inspired cards)

I love the marlin in the stamp set.  When we went on the KLove Cruise with my inlaws in January, we stopped at a Guy Harvey restaurant and store in the Cayman Islands.  I had never heard of the guy "Guy" but his artwork is amazing.  Marlins are one of the things he paints.  So I was inspired to use the blue and purple from the paper Eli made and used the Lost Lagoon and Blackberry Bliss for the marlin too.

I used corrugated paper to make it look like the fish was mounted on wood.  I thought the texture would look better than stamping the hardwood stamp in brown.   I colored the fins using the clear Wink of Stella and found the perfect sentiment from Settin' Sail.  (It's a current photopolymer set with SU!)

Because I stamped the image on Coaster Board, when I colored it using an Aqua Painter, the paper curled.  I wasn't at all upset about it - made it look like a real fish that was mounted!

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope that you are inspired to make your own background paper!  Be sure to head on over to Global Design Project's blog and see some more!

Blessings!

-Holly 

I'm Lost without You - FMS231 & International Blog Highlight

Hey everyone!  I wanted to share a card with you today that I made for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  I sat at my craft table last night trying to make a card but nothing was working.  So when I woke up this morning, I had an email from Kylie Bertucci reminding me that the "love themed" blog highlight was almost over.  I had an idea now for the FMS card!

Here is the sketch this week:

I absolutely love the geometric lines.  Such a simple look but you could really have some fun with it!  Make sure you check out the Freshly Made Sketches site to see the design team's inspiring creations. 

I made this card with the "happy together" sentiment from A Dozen Thoughts but I really liked the "I'm lost without you" sentiment with the two fish swimming among the school of fish. :)

I think this fits the "love" theme for the International blog highlight, don't you?  Kylie hosted a blog highlight last month and had a great turnout - but I missed out on the fun!  Hopefully this will bring some more viewers to my blog.  I have been stuck at 31 followers for almost a year.  Do me a fave... Subscribe to my blog by adding your email at the top of my blog! :)  I'd appreciate it! <3

Have a wonderful day!  I'll be back tomorrow with another sketch from TGIF Challenges! :)

-Holly 

Farewell to the Friday Mashup - A Beautiful Ride

Today I wanted to share with you a card I made for the final Friday Mashup challenge.  This was one of the first challenge sites I ever played for but honestly hadn't played along with for a long time.  I think I have too many challenge sites saved and not enough time to play!

Nonetheless, I wanted to play this week.  I really liked the sketch.  Make sure you head on over to www.fridaymashup.com to see the challenge site and check out the inspiration. 

Create a Project with an "Easter theme or Chicks & Bunnies" 

or Create a Project using the above "Sketch"

or Mash it Up and create an Easter project using the Sketch above. 

I chose to just use the sketch since I don't really have many Easter stamps, and well, Easter has come and gone!  I also had this idea in mind when I saw the sketch and was relieved to know I didn't have to use both categories for the challenge. Whew!  (See I told you it has been awhile since I've played along!)

I masked the white stripes with washi tape.  

After sponging the sunset colors, I carefully pulled the washi tape off.  

I added some stars and a little shimmer to the center of the wheels by adding some Silver Dazzling Details.  Love the extra pizzazz it gives! 

While I had my sponges out, I also wanted to try another technique I saw on instagram.  Loved the black and white trees too.  They are from the set In the Meadow.  The sentiment is from Suite Sayings.

All three of these sets are in the Occasions Catalog from SU!  You could order all three and still earn a FREE Sale-a-Bration item!  You have until tomorrow, March 31st, 11:59p MT.

Thanks for stopping by midway through your week!  Make sure you head on over to The Friday Mashup and say farewell to a great challenge site.  I saved a few blogs to my homepage while I was there.  Great talent!  

Have a blessed Wednesday!

-Holly