A sketch challenge card ~ on time!!!

Good morning!! It's Wednesday, & that means it's SCS sketch challenge day!! This has always been my favorite challenge, because layouts do not come easily for me. I swore once my kids started school that I would do each one ~~~ on the day they are posted!! Well, I think this is the first week that has actually happened, & I probably only got it done because I colored the image last night.


I got something fun in the mail yesterday ~ my new Peerless watercolors!! I first saw these last year on Gina K's blog & they've been on my wish list ever since. But ~~ I stink at watercoloring & I know it, so I did wait to purchase them. After my failed attempts at watercoloring with reinkers, I realized that no matter what I will never be Anna Wight. Not even when I grow up. For some reason I thought the Peerless would be easier & bought them anyway. Well, it's not the medium ~ it's what I'm using to apply the color. I just can't get the hang of that darn Niji waterbrush. I even bought a smaller one online, thinking the other one I had from Michael's was a lemon. Last night I got so frustrated at the amount of water coming out that I finally emptied it. Which defeats the purpose of having a waterbrush, right?? Well, I still like the brush a lot ~~ the bristles are just better than a regular paintbrush. So I used it that way, with a little jar of water. I guess for my first attempt, it didn't turn out too badly, but as with everything else I will need lots of practice!!

I stamped the image onto watercolor paper with Stazon, then went to work. I didn't like how my pumpkins turned out, so I stamped a second image, colored the pumpkins differently, cut them out & popped them up on dimensionals. The pattern paper is from Karen Foster, & the olive & orange layers are DCWV papers run through my Cuttlebug. Love that Swiss Dots folder ~~ the Swirls folder was my favorite until the dots folder came out!! I added some ribbon, Dew Drops & lots of Primas & punched leaves. I HAD a ribbon blob on there (my version of Pam Bassett's ribbon blossom) BUT I had an accident. Actually two. First, I cut myself with the Cutter Bee's that I almost threw away because I thought they were getting dull. I guess they still work well on skin. Secondly, I used some Fray Check on my ribbon ends. I love using organdy ribbon but it frays so easily. Well, I was wondering why it was so sticky ~~I accidentally grabbed the Fabri-Tac!!! That'll learn me to double check the bottle before applying!! At this point I was so disgusted that I took the whole blob off & started over, adding just a few pieces of ribbon. Not as pretty as a blossom, but a blossom/blob with blood all over it isn't very pretty either.

I leave you with a picture of my mums. I planted these the first fall we lived here ~~ 2002. My, how it's grown!!! It spreads every year & now the entire plant (which I couldn't even fit into the picture) is about 10 times as big as it was when I planted it.


Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!!!!!!