Gallery Idol Round 5

Hi everyone! Every time I think about making it to the Top 5 at Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol contest, I want to jump up and down. :) Thank you for your support!!

The challenge for Round 5 was to make four cards in four different card styles using coordinating colors. Phew! It was a CRAZY weekend working on cards. I got very little sleep all weekend, but in the end, I perservered and made four cards I'm proud of.

I found a color scheme from The Sweetest Occasion that I used for all of the cards:

For my four card styles, I picked Fun/Cute, CAS/Graphic, Shabby Chic/Vintage, and Freestyle/Collage. If you have any questions about what I did, feel free to drop me an e-mail. :)

First up is the Fun/Cute card:

Oh, he just cracks me up (or quacks me up, as my 7-year-old would say). Here are a few highlights about the card:

• The duck (Starving Artistamps) and hat (Lawn Fawn) were colored with Copics and fussy cut (those legs were tough!)
• I made the speech bubble digitally and masked off and stamped the sentiment (CAS-ual Fridays)
• I didn't have the right patterned papers, so I made my own. I made the gingham patterned paper in Photoshop using a template. I also altered the polka dot paper digitally--it was yellow on yellow--but I wanted to bring in the aqua.

Here's a close-up:

Next up is the Clean and Simple/Graphic card:

This style is definitely in my comfort zone. While I normally make a lot of CAS hybrid cards, this card doesn't have any digital elements. Here are a few highlights:

• I die-cut the Memory Box heart six times and filled in the the negative space in the white die-cut with the various coordinating colors.
• Since the card is graphic, I went with fully-saturated colors instead of patterned papers like the other styles.
• I finished the card with a sentiment from Technique Tuesday. 

Here's a close-up:

Next up, is the shabby chic/vintage card:

I'm not going to lie, shabby chic does not come naturally for me. I wanted to take on the challenge and did a lot of homework studying blogs and back issues of Paper Crafts.

This vintage image made me laugh (is the mom in the back seat and the kids are in the front seat??). I thought the cheekiness reflected my style well. Here are the details:

• The vintage circle (Pretty Little Studios) and sentiment are both digitally created. I altered the colors in the illustration slightly to reflect the coordinating colors.
• I altered the scalloped Chic Tags die cut by flipping it over and misting the backside. I also whitewashed the wooden tag. 
• I used six different patterned papers from four different manufacturers (SEI, Webster's Pages, Fancy Pants, and BasicGrey). 

Here's a close-up:

Lastly, I made a Freestyle/Collage card:

This card was the most fun to put together. :) Here are a few details:

• I altered three of the embellishments with paint (the flower and wood veneer mini frame) and spray mist (the canvas oval).
• There were twelve unrelated elements on the card (misting, stitching, die-cut patterned papers, sticker sentiment, metal flower, wood veneer frame, canvas oval, metal clip, and sequins).

Here's a close-up of the collage:

As part of the Gallery Idol contest, there's a final vote for the winner. If you like my cards, I would *really* appreciate it if you would take a moment to vote for me. You can click on the link at the top of the sidebar or go HERE, click on my cards, and vote. You do have to register, but if you have already registered, you can simply long in. Making it to the Top 5 feels like I've already won. But, winning would be the icing on the cake. :)

I wanted to throw out a special thank you to my husband and my in-laws for watching the kids and the moral support during the Gallery Idol contest. Thank you to everyone who has voted for my cards, given advice, and been a great listening ear. I have the best crafty friends! It's been such an honor to be in this contest. 

Thank you so much for stopping by!!

Supplies

Let the Shenanigans Begin!

Cardstock: (white) PTI

Clear stamps: (duck “Squirt”)Starving Artistamps; (sentiment from Shenanigans)CAS-ual Fridays Stamps; (hat from Hats Off to You) Lawn Fawn

Digital elements: (gingham from Patterns vol. 7) Wishing Well Creations at Sugar Hill Co.; (polka dot paper from Maritime collection) One Little Bird at The Lilypad; (speech bubble from Blah Blah Blah) Splendid Fiins at The Lilypad

Embellishments: (Whipped Cream button) My Favorite Things

Thank You For Simply Being You

Cardstock: (white; Aqua Mist) PTI; (dark orange, orange, yellow, grey) Bazzill

Clear stamps: (sentiment from Studio AE This One) Technique Tuesday

Die: (La Rue Heart) Memory Box

The Adventure Begins

Cardstock: (Aqua Mist) PTI

Patterned paper: (orange and red stripe from Vanilla Sunshine collection) SEI; (triangles, arrows, honeycomb from Composition and Color) Webster’s Pages; (polka dot from Hopscotch) Fancy Pants; (clouds from Serenade collection) BasicGrey

Paint: (Picket Fence Distress Ink) Ranger

Ink: (Dewey spray mist) Mr. Huey’s; (Antique Linen Distress Ink) Ranger

Embellishments: (scalloped tag) Chic Tags; (stickpins from Fact or Fiction) BasicGrey; (wooden tag) Maya Road; (scalloped ribbon from Mistables collection) Pink Paislee

Digital elements: (vintage circle ephemera) Pretty Little Studios

This Little Light of Mine

Cardstock: (white woodgrain) Simon Says Stamp

Patterned papers: (Sweet Composition) Allison Kreft at Webster’s Pages

Ink: (Tangerine Metallic spray mist) Maya Mists; (Letter Jacket mist) Mr. Huey

Stickers: (sentiment strip from The Sweetest Day) My Mind’s Eye

Embellishments: (mini wood veneer frame) Maya Road; (metal flower) BasicGrey; (metal clip from Fact or Fiction) BasicGrey; (orange sequin) Avery Elle; (silver sequin) Kelly Purkey at Simon Says Stamp; (canvas oval) BasicGrey

Dies: (Tag Scallop Die) Paper Smooches; (Jumbo Fishtail Banner) My Favorite Things

Other: (craft paint)