May Classic Design Challenge : Moondrea Designs

 Hello and welcome back to another Classic Design Challenge! I love this time of the month, when we get to unveil our creations from some really amazing artists! This month the design team gets to feature images from Moondrea Designs. Moondrea has such lovely and unique images to choose from, that I can't ever seem to decide which one I want!

But this month, when I saw the Aquarius Maiden from Moondrea Designs, I just knew I HAD to try to color it in! I couldn't wait to start pulling blue Copics and shading it all in!

After printing off the image, I used many different Copics and colored pencils to shade the maiden in. I wanted her blue color to stand out and not blend into the blue water. I cut out the image with a stitched rectangle and matted it with some blue bamboo paper from American Crafts, then matted that design paper with a lighter blue shade of cardstock from from Recollections. I added some Stickles on the "white caps" and the foam on the waves for some "wet sparkle" and shine.

I really enjoyed creating this card and coloring in this image. Moondrea creates such beautiful images that even if you don't color them in, they're absolutely beautiful and full of so many details!

Thank you for stopping by and joining us for another Classic Challenge. I can't wait to see your submissions this month!

May Beautiful Blossoms Challenge : Birthday Wishes

 Welcome back again to another fun Beautiful Blossoms Challenge! I really do look forward to these every month, and this month is another good one!

Our challenge photo is :

Look at those beautiful flowers and lovely blue color of fine china! So inspiring! I was inspired by the blue and the details on this photo. I love the clean white flowers and on the china, so I left a lot of white space on my card, and added a few hints of blue here and there. I was also inspired by the details of the vessel, so I added a few details to inspire the eye.

I stamped out tulips in a bucket from Flourishes (gone out of business) "Tulips for Friends" stamp set, cut it out, and colored it in with Copics. I cut the main "base" under the tulips in white cardstock that I stamped some decorative edges around (I decided to leave them unconnected because it was more interesting that way, and I wanted the main focus on the tulip bucket) the outer edges. I used Echo Parks "Stitched Squares" die set for my main "base" on top. I stamped a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp from their "Tiny Words" set, on the base after I'd stamped the corner decorative images. Then I cut out a blue cardstock using MFT "Scalloped Squares" die set, after that, I cut out another white square from Echo Parks "Stitched Squares" die set, as my "bottom base". As I added each "layer", I placed 1/8" foam tape under them, to give "lift" and spacing so the card wouldn't seem "flat" and uninteresting. Then I put my main image on last, with more popdots under it to pop it off the card even more.

As you may have noticed the challenge photo is both small and detailed, so I kept the idea of that scale and detail in mind when I created my card. It is both small (3 1/2 x 3 1/2) and detailed. I know there isn't any yellow in the photo, but remember, it's for inspiration only. You can be inspired by the colors, subject, details, size, theme, or anything else you find inspiration in!

I hope this month's photo, and our design team's examples have given you plenty of ideas to create something. We're looking forward to seeing your submissions and lovely inspirations, and I'll see you next month, Crafty Friends!