Countdown #8, and a The Spot sketch challenge

Hey y'all! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had our oldest and her kitten home for a few days before she jetted off to her apartment and back to work. It was so nice having the house full, but it's also nice having an empty house. The boys are hunting and will be back sometime later today, so that empty house will go away lol. Today is number 8 in my Top 10 favorite new things from the January to June Mini Catalog. Today is also the day we, The Spot design team, release the challenge for the week. When I was planning for today's post, I specifically picked this set to share for today's sketch.

Let's look at the sketch. Here is what jumped out at me... the large circle could be ANY shape. There is a die in the Hippo and Friends set that I use all the time that would be perfect for this sketch. The second thing that jumped out at me was how versatile the background is going to be on this sketch. The lighter gray strip could be ribbon, DSP, or even something you stamped. There are several dies that cut an "edge" that would look great in this spot on the card. I also see adding matting layers to give extra dimension. I'm a gal who LOVES a good layered card.

Details for today's card

OM geez! This stamp set is so cute. It's punny and I love that. Think dad jokes but better. It has phrases like "oh snap" and "after a while.... crocodile". For this card I used Bermuda Bay cardstock for the main layer and stamped the little fish in the areas when the sketch showed those tiny circles. I used a paper that you can pick from the Sale-a-bration flyer called Oh So Ombre in two places on this card. The first is the alligator himself. Then I used the Bermuda Bay one for the strip down the left side. This paper is very simple but adds a lot of punch.

Let's take a look at this card. In this version I changed the sketch direction and the shape from a circle to a square. I used paper from the Whale of a Good Time suite from the Annual catalog. My alligator is stamped in Memento ink and colored with Stampin' Blends. I used dimentionals to pop up the bird and added Sequins for a finishing touch. 

I love a good sketch that really can be a jumping off point for cards. This one is definitely one of those. I hope that you are inspired to join our challenge. Click on the image below to see how to enter and what the other design team members came up with. 

If you are just joining me today as I countdown to the new catalog, I hope that you will come back each day at 3pm central time to see the new item that I am featuring. Don't forget to check out both Instagram (@alittlekinder) and YouTube for all the projects.

Are you in the United States? I would LOVE to be your Stampin'Up! Demonstrator!

If you are in the United States and not currently working with a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, you can order supplies in my online store, here.