Welcome back everyone! Whether you're a longtime reader or coming here for the first time from the amazing Marie, I'm excited to see you!
I have been crafting way less than I hoped I would be by now (moving is a terror and takes way longer to recover from than I ever seem to remember). But there's nothing like a hop to light the fire under my butt and make sure I get at least one thing created! As you may have guessed from the picture, the Squirrel Squad and I are back with a hop, but we've refreshed it some! We've given it a new name (Squirrelz Stash Bash because we are busting through that stash and we are celebrating it!), and a sassy new logo (thanks Anna!). We've also given ourselves some new parameters to work in. This month, we focused on a theme of Love and Friendship. We decided this month it would be fun to be inspired by a sketch! Read on to see where this took me!
We decided to use the excellent resource of sketches available at Paper Play Sketches. We each picked a sketch that we liked, threw them on a virtual carnival wheel, and let it choose. It chose sketch #21! This was my first time using a sketch and, as is my nature, I had the awesome fears of getting it wrong, being certain I wouldn't be able to come up with a card, and feeling that if I did, it would be awful. Let's see if any of these fears came true!
For my first card, I decided to stick very close to the sketch. I wanted to create a card that pays homage to the friendships I have made through this hop, so looked at my handy stamp index for some crafty themed stamps. As I thought I'd recalled, I have an older My Monthly Hero kit that is all craft themed. Perfect! If you'd like to watch me make the card, I have a brief video here. Or you can read on!
I took some of the accent stamps and created my own background paper. I loved the idea of brown on brown on brown for a vintage look.
Next, I selected some of my favorite stamps, including a very appropriate sentiment, from that set to highlight on the rectangles in coordinating brown ink. I felt the white rectangles were too harsh, so I calmed them down with some ink blending around the edges. I created the line behind the rectangles with a piece of glittery matte gold washi tape. This was a slight veer away from the sketch since it shows a wider rectangle, but I felt the spirit of the sketch was still there.
Finally, for the three dots in the upper right corner, I attached some beige pearls. I think I nailed it on this first one. Do you?
For my second card, I wanted to experiment just a little more and the easiest way seemed to be just turning the whole thing on its side! Of course there is a video for this one as well. But the written directions tell you why this one was such a stash bash!
First, all the paper was left over from the previous card! I am a fairly notorious scrap hoarder, but I get a thrill every time I get to use them and I don't think I've EVER flipped scraps into a new card this quickly! The background was an ink blend of Distress Oxides that I'd actually not used yet. All three (Milled Lavendar, Victorian Velvet, and Seedless Preserves) were on clearance at some point. Not only do I always take advantage of those to expand my color palette, but I happened to think all three of them would look glorious together! I think I was right!
When I saw those pinky purple tones together, it made me think of an early summer sunset and gave me Farmer's Market vibes. Naturally, that means a bike and some flowers. These came from another underutilized Monthly Hero kit. I didn't really like how any of the sentiments from that kit were fitting onto the tiny rectangles, so I found one in a different Hero Kit (all coffee themed) that was a perfect fit both for the rectangle and the aesthetic of the card.
I'm probably the most excited about the band behind the rectangles, though. I took a scrap of the kraft paper and made "lace" with one of my older Martha Stewart craft punches. I can't speak for anyone else, but with so many die cutting options, my paper punches don't get as much love as they once did. In my new set-up, I have them sitting out where I can see them (they were really too heavy and awkward for a drawer anyway). While there are still plenty of times where the customization of a Cricut cut or the ease of a die plate will be exactly what's needed, sometimes you just can't beat a paper punch (at least for feeling like a genius for using it in such a way)! Last step of course was adding some coordinating pearls and Bam! Another card and some used up scraps! While this one does veer a little more away from the sketch, I felt I still stuck to the concept presented.
I hope you enjoyed seeing my creations! Have you ever used a card sketch as inspiration before? How far do you think you can push it before it's no longer the sketch and it's your own design?
Be sure to keep hopping! There is WAY more inspiration from my Squirrel Squad! Next stop: the brilliant and talented Anna! If you love what we're doing, please leave a comment! We love it even more when you subscribe!