Marty's Masterpiece - A Sketch Challenge

Here is Marty's August sketch:

I interpreted this quite literally because I wanted to give it to a friend who won a monthly lottery in one of my groups.  The theme she selected was summer, so this sketch was perfect.  I made this wall hanging:

It was done on watercolor paper attached to chipboard and is pretty sturdy.  Here are the details:

• background:  denim Adirondack color wash.  That's all!  It formed the variations all by itself.
• fence:  cut from wood sheet using Tim's on the fence die, then dabbed with picket fence paint to create a worn out look.
• palm tree:  Sideshow stamp, colored with markers, and extra leaves hand cut and added for dimension.  Coconuts cut from a specialty paper I have that looks like.....the outside of a coconut, LOL!
• parrot:  also from Sideshow, colored with markers and attached with pop dot.
• beach sign:  cardstock inked with a few shades of distress ink in the brown family, then stamped with archival ink, then covered with rock candy crackle paint.
• sand:  the real deal, from last year's trip to the Dominican Republic.
• shells:  also real, origin unknown.
• shack:  pieced together from a variety of handmade papers and fibers found in my stash.

Check out my friend Heidi's blog to see what the rest of the Gotham City Stampers did with Marty's sketch.

Not Your Usual Inspiration Sketch!

My friend Heidi has put together a monthly sketch challenge and asked me to be part of her design team.  What makes this different from your typical inspiration sketch is that it comes from her adorable musician husband (not an artist).  Here is the first Marty's Masterpiece:

When I first looked at this sketch all I really focused on was the sun, so this is what I came up with:

This is a notecard, and everything on it (except for the Prima bling in the center) came from my scrap pile.  It's all attached to the base with some simple and very wonky machine stitching, and I sent it out as a birthday card.

We only had to do one project, but this one was so fast and easy I decided to do another.  This time I interpreted the sketch much more literally and did this.  Again, all from the scrap pile, and all paper piecing.

Please visit Heidi's blog to see what she and the rest of the DT did.....all different, all from the same unconventional sketch.