Awesomely Artistic Easel Card

I've been playing with some unique designs and techniques for our card class this Saturday.  I thought the Awesomely Artistic set would work great for an easel card project.  I really like how it turned out.

I think this stamp set was made with me in mind.  I just love it.  I embossed lots of ferns and the big floral piece with White EP.  The 'friend' is embossed with Gold EP, along with the dragonfly and round button/medallion piece.  

I added Pear pizzazz CS layers to the top and to the bottom piece of the card.  Because of the unique fold on this card, I decided to try using our new Whisper White Thick CS.  I love it!

I added an extra pair of wings to my dragonfly.  The fussy cutting work only involved an extra set of wings.  The other gold piece was punched out with a circle punch.  I added extra 'speckles' in the background, using Pear Pizzazz (stamped off some) and Gold ink.  The final touch is to sponge lightly over the lower parts of the card and gradually get lighter and lighter as it fades away at the top of the card.  

If you live in the area, I hope you can join us for the class this Saturday and I can show you how fun and easy it really is to make an easel card.  I have just one remaining opening.  

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or look on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Sketch Challenge: Round or Square?

Happy Groundhog Day!  I know what movie my husband will want to watch tonight.  He loves that movie!  No, I don't have a groundhog stamp or a groundhog project, but I have some fun scallops for today.
I made these cards to participate in a Mojo Monday sketch challenge.  It could be round or square.  I'll post my favorite one (the one I entered for the challenge) first.

The Poppy Parade and coordinating colors just wake you up! 

I colored the images using inks (Peach Parfait, Coral Calypso, Poppy Parade and Lucky Limeade) and the Aqua Painter. 
Tip:
I almost always emboss first whenever I plan to color an image.  It's much easier to color the areas if you've embossed first and you don't have to worry about smearing the ink.

Here's another round version I made.  I used the bird shape from the Movers and Shapers die to coordinate with the little birds in the DSP.

These cards are both easel cards.  Another day, I'll show you how to make one, using lots of dies with the Big Shot.   
Warning:  These cards are fun, easy and very addictive!  OK, you've been warned:)

Here are the square cards I made, using the same sketch design.  I decided that I'd stay with the scallops.  You only needed to enter 1 card for the sketch challenge, but I really liked this design so I went ahead and made 2 of each:)

These cards are both cut with the large scallop square die.  I pierced the top left-hand corner and added a brad.  They swivel to open.  The flower is cut using the fun flowers die.

Here are the sketches for the challenge:  If you want to see more samples using this challenge, here's the link.