Sneak Peek #4: Just So Sporty

The idea for "Just So Sporty" occurred to me about .2 milliseconds after "Little Tees" LOL! I must admit, although I've never been much of an athlete myself and don't really follow any televised sports, this set was definitely something I felt my stamp collection needed, but I have never seen a set as inclusive as this before. I'd been reluctant in the past to invest in any "one sport" stamp sets since everyone has a favorite, and kids pick a new one every season, but my hope is that with these versatile words and images you can scrapbook the majority of your sporting events and create sports-themed cards and gifts, perfect for guys or girls of any age. (I do NOT want to say this is a masculine set, since women play sports, too, but definitely has some great options for when flowers and hearts just won't do! LOL!) I had a hard time choosing which project to share today, they are all so different, but I'll start with this card because it has a lot of elements I'm really happy with and can share tips on how I did them. I made it for my 6 year-old all star, he loves ANY and every sport involving motion! He was particularly disappointed that they don't offer baseball in the fall here for his age group, so I created a little jersey that looks like his team's from this past spring, the inside reads "What a good sport!" (4 separate stamps) to remind him what a talent I think he is at everything he tries...
To make the background, I placed several of the sports (but not all! there's still more if you don't see "yours"!) on my gridline block so I can ink them all at once. To include as many stamps as possible, "ball" is a single stamp to pair up with "volley", "basket" etc (plus I love these two font options). I left a gap wherever "ball" needed to go, and after stamping out all these sports to cover the card base (I used the diagonal on my Scor-Mat as a guide), I went back in with "ball" where I needed it as well as filling in a few more gaps in the corners. (I sponged around the edges later with more gray ink to add some texture.)
Coloring tip: I wanted my new jersey (notice the "boxier" shape of this shirt?) to be a really vivid, solid purple, without looking flat, so I stamped it and the new cap on Lovely Lilac CS, and then went in and added a few wrinkles to the sides and shadows along the bottom and under the sleeves with my purple Koh-i-Noor pencil. Isn't that awesome how much it looks like fabric? (and MUCH faster/uses less supplies than coloring the whole thing, gotta love that!) So try stamping on colored CS and shading with the same or similar colored pencil or marker. My white gel pen recently bit the dust, so I was absolutely delighted to see how opaque my stripes and collar came out with the white Koh-i-Noor on dark CS! I used my Purple Copic Spica on the star I stamped on my cap.

Now I just gotta say I am still amazed at how well the baseball came out LOL! And it was very simple to make. I started with a white die cut and embossed Circle Nestabilitie and sketched on two arcs for the seams with my gray Koh-i-Noor. (I went and grabbed my son's baseball to get it right) :) I saw right away that piercing for the stitching would really make a huge difference, so I made little pairs of holes on either side of the seam with my paper piercer deluxe, and attached each making a little red "V" of my marker.
Baseballs never stay white for long, though, right?! So I sponged around the edges and a few random spots in the middle to make it look more rounded and scuffed. Lucky for me, I never wash my sponge, so mixed in with the gray were all sorts of green shades (most likely Old Olive, Mellow Moss), I think it added a nice grass-stained patina, don't you? I even got a scratch on there by mistake (whoops!), but look, there's one on the real ball, hee hee! ;)
I have a mile-long tip sheet to go with this new set as usual and I hope you're as excited to see the rest of stamps as I am to show them to you! And please rest assured, even if you and your friends aren't "sporty", I've included some things in this set I know you'd still use! (I actually started AND finished my first scrapbook page in 3 years yesterday using stamps from this set only, and it wasn't even a sports-themed page! You can see it at our release party tonight) As you would probably expect, the images in this set and "Little Tees" are all interchangeable, so have fun combining the two to make sporty ringers or girly jerseys ("cheer" or "dance" anyone?) :) Are your fired up for the party tonight now or what?? Don't forget to check out more of this set using a HOODIE this time from Jessica, Joanne, Asela and Gina K ...

And now for the winner of this set: Charlene Herter, who wrote: "I love your card! Another great use for those punches, too." Congrats, Charlene ! Please send me your addy and I will put your stamps in the mail ASAP!

AND NOW for some big news (and the second blog candy offering this week): I've mentioned before Diana Crick and I met at CHA and she heaped on a pile of goodies I've been enjoying and giving away here, as well as oodles of projects I've been making with it and how much I love the new mat, but did you know Diana's also a fan of "Little Tees"? Yup, and she emailed offering to donate a BRAND NEW SCOR-PAL AND SCOR-MAT prize pack (a $55 value!) that I could give away on my blog to one of you in return for me sending her a "Little Tees" set! Well, how could I refuse??? Simply leave one comment on this post to enter, I will be back tomorrow and Sunday announcing how you can get more entries. I will announce a winner Monday, and Diana will ship the prize pack directly to that lucky person!

And now!!!!!! (after the world's longest post LOL!), if you'll excuse me, I have a PARTY to get ready for, please join us tonight at 7PM CST!!!!