Fun clowns

I've been at my desk making things like this...

...sigh, makes me happy.

Get annoyed when I have to draw the faces ten times because I can't get a good one. I know, it happens to all of us, doesn't it? Good thing about punching, you can just punch another one (and another one) until you get it right.

I used a Sizzix die called Frame and Frame Back, Scallop. It's an XL die (one of the long ones) and comes with a scallop rectangle shape and the same shape as a frame. I used the full rectangle for the back of this card and the frame on the front there.

The shapes from Sizzix are my favourite. You know, cut and go type shapes. The card bases are my next favourite - cut, fold and go. The foldy boxes and all that are fine sometimes too, but the shapes and bases are my fav because they go with punch art beautifully and add so much fun to what I already do.

That border punch there is the Zig Zag border from Martha. I didn't buy this one when I first saw it, but I get it now. It's a boy one to me and works well with boy-ey stuff and clowns too. See the embossing it does as well? What do you think about that? I'm usually not a fan, but I like this one and how it does it.

All the punches I used are Sullivans ones. I actually used a hand-held hole punch for the little balls and noses. Sullivans doesn't have a 1/4" Circle at this stage. Hopefully they will sometime soon.

I re-made this card this week and changed up the colours a bit. I've been having a bit of a thing with colours lately. Some I've been using for years feel too dark all of a sudden, so I've introduced lighter ones. Currently I'm using the backs of the Bling cardstock - nice and bright. Not the yellow, it's too bright. I use an American Crafts yellow called Dandelion for the yellow. Sometimes it's too bright too - urggh, not all the time, but just when I want to use it for hair.

Anyway, I'll figure it out - at the moment my cardstock is Bazzill - all my usual colours, Bling backs (it's Bazzill too) and a couple of American Crafts yellows (I get 'em at Spotlight). Plus the all-important cream, can't forget that...

Hope you enjoyed the clowns today - have a great weekend :o)

PS. I've written a note to myself to talk about the actual colours (and their names) that I use. Will do that soon.