All week I have been hard at work making 3 cards (+1 beyond the card~which means anything but a card!) for the SheetLoad Design Team challenge. For those of you who don't know what SheetLoad is, it is a wonderful & free online papercrafting magazine. It's an awesome resource and I am so excited about this challenge! They are picking 4 new design team members based on entries such as mine, so wish me luck! Some of these cards may look familiar, as I was also participating in some SCS challenges along the way!
All of my projects are inspired by the April 2009 issue of Sheetload! {
Click here to check it out!}Here is the layout that was my inspiration:
For my first card, I used the sketch exactly as shown above. I stamped and cut out the flower image and added it to the card with dimensionals, to make it pop out from the page.
Ingredients: Stamps: Stampin' Up! {Bodacious Bouquet, Warmest Regards}; Cardstock: Stampin' Up! {Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue, Naturals Ivory}; Designer Paper {Stampin' Up!, Basic Grey}; Ink: Stampin' Up! {Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery}; Accessories: Stampin' Up! {Button Bouquet, Sale-A-Bration ribbon bundle, dimensionals}.
For project number two, I just had to download an adorable Anya digi from the Greeting Farm! This one is a brunette with Copic colored hair! I paper pieced her cap, gown, diploma and shoes with DP from a Simply Scrappin' kit by Stampin' Up! The star embellishments and other DP are from the same kit. This layout is basically the same as the sketch, but I
used the Top Note Sizzix doe to create the starry red background shape and better frame the Anya Image. I also paper pierced the Wild Wasabi layer to mimic the piercing in the top note die cut.
Ingredients: Stamps: The Greeting Farm {Graduate Anya digi stamp}, Stampin' Up! {Warmest Regards}; Cardstock: Stampin' Up! {Basic Black, Wild Wasabi, Shimmery White, Brocade Blue}; Designer Paper: Stampin' Up!; Ink: Stampin' Up!; Accessories: Stampin' Up! {stickers, dimensionals, Watercolor Wonder crayons}, Copic Markers.
My third project is one of my favorites because I love ribbon! And this one has a big pretty bow on it. I took the sketch on this one and actually stamped both the image and the sentiment on the same panel, rather than adding the tag to the right.
Ingredients: Stamps: Inkadinkado {Birds}, Stampin' Up! {Small Script}; Cardstock: Stampin' Up! {Pretty in Pink}, Curious Iridescent Poison Ivory; Designer Paper: K & Company {Amy Butler}, Ink: Stampin' Up! {Old Olive}; Accessories: {Green Satin Ribbon, Corner Rounder, Adhesive Gems}.
For the 'Beyond the Card' project, I was inspired both by the sketch, and a project in the April '09 issue by Katie Skiff (Rya's lunch bag). 
I made this in honor of my kindergartner's tee ball team, the Red Sox. This Batter Ian from the Greeting Farm reminds me so much of my little guy! This is a (party favor sized) kraft lunch bag from Target (you can find them where wrapping paper is). I folded the bottom flap down and embossed the entire bag with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I paper pieced his Jersey, hat and bat. The baseball is a button from Jesse James and I made the sentiment myself on my computer. The white stitching is "faux"--made with a paper piercer and white gel pen. The flap stays put in the back with a Velcro dot. I'm thinking it will be the perfect thing to hold Cracker Jacks at their team party!
Ingredients: Stamps: The Greeting Farm {Batter Ian digi stamp}, Cardstock: Stampin' Up! {Shimmery White, Real Red, Not Quite Navy}; Ink: Stampin' Up! 
{Real Red, Going Gray, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom, Not Quite Navy}; Accessories: {baseball button, Cricut, paper piercer, white gel pen, circle punches, Velcro dot}.
**BONUS* BONUS *BONUS*
I was really inspired to see what I could do with this sketch, and I have two other cards that I made and wanted to share. Both were based on the original sketch, but I flipped them, stretched them, rounded them and made them look way different. I just wanted to show that you don't always have to stick to the rules to make a great card!
This first card has been posted once already, but I wanted to explain how
I came up with the layout. I took the sketch and reversed it, both left to right and top to bottom. Then where there were rectangles, I made circles and ovals. The two embellishments are the chocolate chip swirls. I love the colors in this one-- definitely in my top three favorite combos.
Ingredients: Stamps: Inkadinkado {Birds}, There She Goes {Crafty Taglines}; Cardstock: Stampin' Up! {Caribbean Blue, Chocolate Chip}; Ink: Stampin' UP! {Caribbean Blue, Chocolate Chip}; Decorative Paper: K & Company {Addison}; Ribbon: Stampin' Up! {Chocolate Chip Taffeta}; Die: Sizzix.
The second card is simply turned 
horizontally and since the background paper is so ornate, I decided to use only a background stamp and sentiment and let the fancy paper do the talking!
Ingredients: Stamps: Stampin' Up! {Touch of Nature, Looks Like Spring}, Carsdstock: Stampin' Up! {Basic Black, Shimmery White}, DP: Basic Grey; Accessories: black grosgrain ribbon, black brads, paper piercer.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
And thank you SheetLoad for such a great challenge!
