CPS Anniversary Sketches 2-5!

The sketch challenge at Card Positioning Systems (CPS) is one of my favorites, so I'm excited to participate in all 15 sketches of their 5th Anniversary Celebration! I've already posted my card using their Day 1 sketch, and here are Days 2 - 5 (in order):

Day 2 / Sketch #166
Featuring digi stamp from MelJen's Designs

Day 3 / Sketch #54
Featuring digi stamp from MelJen's Designs

Day 4 / Sketch #220
Featuring digi stamp from MelJen's Designs

Day 5 / Sketch #38
Featuring digi stamp from Tiddly Inks
Candy Heart SVG set from Denise's Scrapbooking Room

I'm entering the card above into the following challenges:

Tiddly Inks Challenge #79: Valentine

iCopic Weekly Challenge #68: Hearts


Okay, off to work on the rest of the CPS sketches!

When life gives you lemons, make fruit salad

You may remember my recent "Little Sunshine" card; well, Mom suggested that I make the same family another card for their granddaughter plus their two current foster children. That's the kind of suggestion I live for. I can't tell you how much I respect these folks: they have opened their hearts and home to many foster children over the years, adopting several and helping others to live happy childhoods until they can be adopted. Now that's what I call courage.

Inspiration:
iCopic Blog Hop Challenge: All about Children
Simon Says Stamp: Food & Drink
Card Positioning Systems Sketch #232

Stamps: Crayons The Baby and Picnic Ally-n-Edward by Tellen's Place Designs, Round Sentiments I set by SP & Company
Paper: Recollections, Hammermill, Core'dinations, stash DP
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Martha Stewart scissors, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Marvy heat tool, Sizzix Texture Boutique, EK Success corner punch
Other: ZipDry glue, Versamark watermark ink, Stampendous embossing powder, AtYou Spica glitter pen
Copics: E37, E47, E17, E35, E33, E13, E11, Y08, YR12, Y13, Y04, Y17, Y02, YR31, RV02, RV11, G02, BG09, BG49, YG67, YG41, B00, BG000, B32, B23, B05, FB2, B39, B18, B28, BV02, BV00, BV000, V17, V06, R27, YR04, FY1, FBG2

Birthday Shadow-box Card

I had so much fun making my Charlie Chaplin-esque Shadowbox card that I turned right around and made another, inspired by the freebie challenge at CDAC/A Day for Daisies and the Birthdays theme at iCopic.

I also used up some punch-fruits I had left over from my Picnic card. As you can see in the close-up on the right, the cherries are glazed with Glossy Accents and the stem is two-tone baker's twine.

The challenge at A Day for Daisies is to celebrate reaching 300 members on CDAC (congrats! I'm one of them!) They're offering 3 freebies to choose from; the only requirement is that you share whatever you make with the freebie you grab. I couldn't resist playing with this lovely Happy Birthday Tower; the message cards come blank, so I added text & fills myself. This is fairly easy to do, especially with the help of the wonderfully comprehensive Digital Paper Piecing tutorial at Snappy Stampin' with Arielle.

Inspiration:
A Day for Daisies CDAC 300 Member Party
iCopic Weekly Challenge #38: All About Birthdays
Stampin' Dymonz Scrap Shack Cardmaking Group: Shadowbox card

Shadowbox Card tutorial: Splitcoast Stampers
Digital Paper Piecing tutorial Snappy Stampin' with Arielle

Stamps: Happy Birthday Tower digi by A Day for Daisies, Hampden Art, Inkadinkado, StudioG, pile of gold (for strawberry seeds) from Lucky Day set by SP & Company
Paper: Recollections, Hammermill, Colorbök
Tools: Marvy heat tool, Fiskars papercutter & deckle scissors, MS detail scissors, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Recollections punches, EK Success corner punch
Other: ZipDry glue, Versamark & Memento inks, Sakura & AtYou Spica gel pens, Copics, Offray ribbon, Stampendous embossing powder, Glossy Accents, Pink Paislee bakers twine

Barcodes & Hedgehogs

I really enjoyed following the CPS sketch to make the two birthday cards I finally stuck in the mail today, so I decided to do the same with this week's Mojo Monday sketch.

The book I used as a pedestal in this photo is A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary [...] with Directions for Foreigners by John Walker (New York City, 1815). It's not something I like to handle very often, since it's, what, 196 years old‽ but I hate to put it away and not enjoy it. It's really a wonderful book, with lots of words that we don't use anymore, at least not in States. Funny to think how many of my recent ancestors weren't even considering being American, or, for that matter, English-speaking when this book was published.

The barcode-themed sentiment was a group effort: I designed it PhotoShop, but my husband came up with the sentiment (free your imagination), and the barcode image is the actual barcode from Everything is True at Once by Bart Galle (Passager Books, 2010), which I happened to have in my design files.

Feeling bookish, I tore out the Acknowledgments page from my copy of Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of the Senses. Sorry Diane; thanks for taking one for the team! Then I dyed it by soaking it in warm water & neon-green food coloring for an hour or so, occasionally wringing it and flattening it again. I let it dry for a bit in the sun, then finished it with my heat tool.

Inspiration:
Mojo Monday Sketch #183
iCopic Challenge #22: green, lime, turquoise
Digi Stamps:
Amber Reads by Just Some Lines
Books from Schoolgirl set by Tiddly Inks
Supplies: Brazzill, Recollections and Hammermill cardstocks, SCAL & Cricut, MS border punch, Perpetua Titling for sentiment, 09KutUps for frames, Wave border cut file from [digital] stash
Copic markers: E50, E51, RV21, Y000, BG15, G02, BG93, TG76, G10, B39, G07, BG49, B05, G21

There is not one part of this card that I didn't have fun making! I think I can always say that, but this time especially. I recently received 2 new lavender Copics so I can't get enough of purple shading. Also, I love coloring these cute Hedgehogs from Penny Black that Mom and I have been collecting.

Here I used a larger version of the sentiment I used for the CPS sketch cards, thinking I'd keep the rest of the card pretty simple. Um, didn't happen. This is actually fairly heavy!



Inspiration:
Mojo Monday Sketch #183

Stamp: Message from Above from Penny Black
Supplies: DCWV Blossoms & Butterflies Stack, Brazzill and Hammermill cardstocks, stash decorative scrapbooking paper, Martha Stewart and Hero Arts gem stickers, MS border punch, Copic markers, SCAL & Cricut, 09KutUps font (for frames), Scriptina font for sentiment, Fiskars papercutter, scalloped circle punch and texturing plate & tool, HP printer & ink, Adobe PS & ID