A Tree of Hope and a House Too Small

This is my card from yesterdays Sketch Challenge at SCS. I finished it too late to load it - I had to get to bed! But here it is today - and I really love how it came out!

I used Michelle Zindorf's Northern Lights tutorial here as inspiration. Michelle is such a terrific artist and she makes a tutorial every day on her blog - you really have to check her out!

This is the sketch we were given.

I had to make panels 3 and 4 the same size because of the size of my tree stamp and I turned it on it's side. I sponged the River Rock panel with certainly celery and Blue Bayou leaving a clear space in the middle - and then stamped my tree from the Natural Heritage set by Artful Inkables with black ink. I love this tree and sentiment don't you? I used the Distressed stripes cuttlebug folder on the black panel and I attached little blue square brads to the corners of the blue bayou panel.

Stamps: Natural Heritage- Artful Inkables
Paper: River Rock, Basic Black, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky: SU
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Certainly Celery & Blue Bayou: SU
Accessories: hole punch, blue square brads, petite rectangle nestabilities, glue dots, cuttlebug, Distressed Stripes folder, foam dimensionals

Next up is my card for Amy Rysavy's A-Muse-a-Palooza Ambassador Challenge - we had to use the layout of 4 punched circles on a square. My card is 4 1/4 x 4 1/4.

I first traced circles on a piece of Very Vanilla CS and then stamped my images within the circles the way I wanted them placed. Then I colored the images and paperpieced the pillows, lampshade and girls dress. All the images are Amuse. I had this circles chipboard piece (forever!) from a Stampin Up On Board Accents set so I was happy to finally use it! I covered it with this pretty DP from 7 Gypsies (after I punched the holes out of it!). I attached it to the vanilla stamped piece with foam dimensionals. I cuttlebugged the card using the Floral Fantasy folder then attached the chipboard over it.

You can see the detail of the paper piecing better in this close up.

I stamped the Irish Proverb (from Amuse) onto a piece of Very Vanilla and used my Labels Trio Spellbinder die to cut and dry embosss it. I attached that onto the chipboard piece with foam dimensionals. I stamped New Home (which is a piece of a Michaels $1 stamp that has a house above it) onto a piece of Very Vanilla and punched it with the tab punch. I did a little paper piercing on it, sponged it and attached it to the side. The foam flower has a little bit of stickles on the center for a little sparkle. I'm really happy with how this came out!

Thanks so much for stopping by today - now I'm off to do today's Ways to Use It Challenge - to use a photo on your card - I'll be putting that up tomorrow - have a great night!

Stamps: Irish Proverb, Couch, Kissing Couple, Lame: Amuse, New Home: Mike's $1
Paper: Bordering Blue, Very Vanilla: SU, DP- 7 gypsies Olana
Ink: Bordering Blue SU, Onyx Black Versafine
Accessories: tab punch, arctic ice stickles, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, spellbinders Label Trios, cuttlebug, Floral Fantasy folder, sponge, foam flower: Petaloo, SU on Board Accents, SU marker: Not Quite Navy, Prismacolor markers, Sky blue light, light cerulean blue, cool gray.