Thursday, May 21, 2009

You are FABULOUS!

This card goes out to all my crafty friends: you are ALL fabulous! Is there nothing you can't do!?! It's pretty special to be crafting "shoulder to shoulder" with y'all! In the blog-o-sphere and in the real world: crafty friends rock!




I started this card as an entry for the KWerner color challenge... But after my wild scrappin' weekend and MUCH SLEEP DEPRIVATION, I thought Wednesday was Tuesday, and the next thing I knew, I wasn't making it across the finish line before Mr. Linky headed out... boo hoo... The good news is that I was able to tweak my ideas to fit for the CPS challenge, so YEAH!


I saw "stars" the minute I noticed the bar at the bottom of the sketch with all those circles!



Then there is this (now expired - Wah!) sentiment from Stampin' Up!'s "Fabulous Flower" set that expired a catty or two back... How I have waited to make that thing shine: oooww, baby!

Finally! I sprung for some stamp sets from "My Cute Stamps" recently and picked up the darling "Circus Animal's" set to inspire me to make more "children's birthday cards" HA! So here I am making a card that I want to send to every crafty friend I have, but what the heck... It's ALLLLLLLL good! KWIM!

Here's the picture from Kristina Werner's color challenge (WHICH IS NOW OVER!!!) but it is still significant to me because my darling friend, Traci, submitted the photo for the inspiration! Wheeeehew! She rocks my world with her (and her husband's {wink* wink}) photography! Not to mention, super fabulous scrapbook L/O's and recently CARDS! But anywhoo, I couldn't ignore THIS inspiration, so for those of you who haven't seen it and even those of you who have (it's worthy of one more drool...)



Aren't those colors smashing! Not exactly colors you'd collect on a regular basis, but with this delightful inspiration: what fun!


I thought little Elephant looked pretty confident and that "she" could handle a LOT! So, she's juggling peanuts! I used that glittery Gelly Roll pen again to doodle some swirlies to imply movement for the peanuts... Do you like my juggling peanut routine? I also used an aqua painter to color the missy elephant and emphasize her lovely figure. It doesn't take much, but I'm telling you, look out Copics! For those of your afraid of the "$$$" commitment to Copics... think about practicing this technique... Just a dot or two of a re-inker, or squeeze your S/U! pad gently, BUT firmly, to get a small layer of ink on the lid and then that becomes your palette! Start by putting down the deepest color where the darkest part of the shadow would be and then clean your brush on your table-top paper blotter and work back. with less color and more water... It's easier than it may sound! I stamped the elephant several times to do a "study" with the watercolor application and it was too easy! (Please, don't be offended Copic lovers: if someone wanted to DONATE them to me, I'd be all over it! But for those of us who've already invested in SOOOOOOO many other color materials, it's nice you don't always have to RE-BUY everything! ) And that's all I have to say about that. Heh, heh!




One last little shot to say "be FABULOUS!" Why not!?!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up (sentiment); My Cute Stamps (elephant & peanuts); pencil eraser (white polka dots)
Scallop Edge and Corner Rounder - Stampin' Up!
Tiny Star Punch - Marvy
Sakura Gelly Roll Pen

15 comments:

tg said...

Wow, wow, wow! I so love this. The peanuts are adorable. You are so talented! This card is perfect.

Rosemary said...

OMG!!!! THIS IS STINKIN CUTE!!! (I literally said that when I saw your cutey elephant!) I love your take on the CPS sketch and your use of the color challenge! And those peanuts??? WAY TOO CUTE!

Karen said...

You are fabulous...for sure! LuuuuuuVe that elephant!!! And those peanuts.....sooooo cuute! I love the way your mind works, Elise....can I crawl in and sit a spell in that creative zone? :>

SmilynStef said...

This is so adorable ... makes me smile.

Dana Gustafson said...

Oh my word! She is darling! I love her "curvy" look...she and YOU are so fab-u-lous! All of the layers and scallops and negative space stars are P.E.R.F.E.C.T.!! You really let your color balance, story and techniques shine here. Gotta practice that watercoloring over here so as not to embarrass myself. You are amazing!!

Unknown said...

This card is so cute! I am so happy to be making cards with you out here in cyber card land! Your cards always make me smile! Have a great weekend! I am going camping with Beth, and to play with her copics!!!

Jennifer said...

Your card is just too dang fun! So original and I just love the flying peanuts!

Thanks for visiting my blog and for your kind comments.

Jennifer

Monika/Buzsy said...

What a great card! Love teh cute elephant and your take on the sketch! TFS!

~amy~ said...

soooo adorable!!!

Tracey said...

This is so cute!!! You are very talented. Love it

CeeCee said...

Oh, this card is just so perfect! l love that elephant.. and the little peanuts. Hehe, you're like me: you missed Kristina's deadline. I hate it when that happens.
Fantastic work!
CC

Create It Simply said...

How cuuuute! Love the colors. Thanks for joining us at CPS :)

Terri Trotter Earley said...

Love your fun peanuts. Wonderful job with the cps sketch.

It's a good life!
Terri E.

sam said...

so cute!!! love it!

Dawn said...

This is too cute. I love the little detail of movement with the swirls behind the peanuts. It's those little details that bring an image to life. Fab.U.lous!