Outside the comfort zone

I haven't previously attempted any of the sketch challenges, so I thought I'd try some of those in Stampington's Take Ten magazines to begin with. One would have thought it would be easy to follow a layout, but I often think some of my better work results when I don't start with a clear idea of what I want to make, so sticking to a sketch proved an interesting exercise!

I limited myself further by deciding that the only patterned papers I would use would be those which came free with magazines. Very often they don't appeal much to me. Either they're too garish for my tastes, or the paper quality leaves a lot to be desired. However, I wanted to see whether I could make something with them that I would be happy with. There was, of course, the added bonus of feeling virtuous that in these financially difficult times I'd have produced a card or two that cost very little to make! Finally I decided that each would have to have some stamping somewhere, and since I'm still enthralled by my Nestabilities, they would also have to make an appearance.

Anyway, here are a few of the cards. I even managed to use a free stamp in the third one! The sheep stamp is by Magenta (all one stamp with three squares which I cut out separately and coloured with watercolour pencils) and the dots in all three cards are "Card Candy" from Craftwork Cards, who also sell the greetings diecut circles (as on the sheep card).

So was I happy with them? Well, I do like the sheep card. I particularly liked that layout, and the papers do suit the stamp. The other two I'm not so sure about.....