Viva La Verve First July Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone here it is the celebration of the 239th anniversary of Independence Day and what am I doing but crafting and writing this post. Hopefully by evening it will have cooled down so I can go and watch the "boom bangs" as my son used to call fireworks. In the meantime I do not do well out in triple digit temperatures. Alas of course since it is a holiday weekend the AC decided to go South on me. Still it is cooler in my apartment than outside.

Once again I'll be entering my card in two different challenges. Over at Stamponique the challenge is to use ribbon and since this card has ribbon on it  I might as well. ;-) Like usual the current challenge can always be found here: http://stampotiquedesignerschallenge.blogspot.com The other challenge is as the title says Viva La Verve Sketch challenge and info about the challenge can be found here:http://vlvsketches.blogspot.com I just love this sketch even though I goofed and placed my sentiment panel too low and was afraid of ruining things by taking it off and placing it up higher. Because of this my circle ended up lower on the card than in the sketch.

Before I show you my card I want to show you what the left panel on the card looks like. On Thursday I received in the mail Brusho Color Crystals from across the pond and of course had to play with them yesterday. I decided to see what would happen if I used acrylic floor wax instead of water with them using water color paper.  You know me I don't like to waste anything so when I saw the puddle of wax with the colors on my parchment paper I decided to mop the liquid up with a scrap of water color paper before throwing the parchment paper in the trash. Because the non-stick parchment paper wrinkles when it gets wet I got a really neat pattern. I love how the floor wax gave this a shiny finish. I'm going to have to remember and use it on other pieces where I want a shine. Especially since it dries quicker than some other mediums.

One of my goals this year is to use scraps and bits and pieces. I had yellow card stock left over from a print and cut and it was large enough to make my card base. I then saw the decorative scissors on my work space and decided I need to use them more often so edged the top and bottom with them

The left panel is what is in the photo above. The right panel is cut from a piece of scrap. One thing about doing a sketch like this you can maybe pare down your scraps. The rectangle shapes on the left are also scraps. I was especially pleased to find a small piece of shimmery lavender card stock for this card.

Both the butterfly and the sentiment are from Verve's Sparkly Dream stamp set. After stamping the sentiment I traced over the word Sparkle with my Sakura Clear Star pen.

After I cut out the border I used the adapter for my airbrush which allows me to spray liquids. I wanted to see if Brusho mixed with water would work with it. Now I can save money by not having to buy expensive color mists. Although I only have five colors of Brusho I can make my own custom colors. :-) Of course I had to brush Iridescent Medium over the border for shimmer and sparkle. You know in my past life I was a magpie so I'm attracted to shiny things. ;-) When borders have openings like this one I love to weave ribbon through them. I bought this ribbon on sale and use it a lot but it  is like it regenerates on the spool as I never seem to run out of it. :-)

The scallop circle is cut out of a gelli print which I wasn't really thrilled how it turned out but I discovered the prints can look different when cut into shapes. It doesn't show in the photo but turquoise metallic paint is in the print. I discovered though that metallic paints dry too quick so need to have extender added to it when print making.

I am so in love with this butterfly stamp.  There was a scrap of black paper on my desk and I decided to see about stamping on the black. It seems like so often I stamp on white card stock. I used white embossing ink and then an off brand turquoise embossing powder my sister gave me as she didn't like that it doesn't really flow when you heat it up.  I love the pebbly textures.. Of course as you can see on the card photo I had to paint Iridescent Medium also over the butterfly.

Even though I had goofed with placement I love how this card turned out and will be using this sketch  at a later date again.

If you live in the U.S. I hope you had a happy and safe 4th. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!