Mess On Your Desk Challenge

Wow!!!!  What a fun Friday and Saturday on the Cricut Circle!!  Jana Eubanks has provided us with a two-part webinar featuring 25 (?) techniques for embellishing die cuts, we had a live chat with our Circle Message Board friends and the Circle Design Team, we've played the craziest games (learned some speed typing on those!), have had four great challenges --more to come-- and some time to finish those (I hope to post mine in the next few days!), and we've even had some timed challenges!

This is the first timed challenge that I have been able to do!  In addition to a 2-hour limit to complete and link, this challenge only allows us to use the stuff on our desks and trash baskets!!!

So, here's what I had to work with (I wasn't desperate enough for the trash but that is only because I am such a messy crafter and the old work desk had plenty of stuff):

I was working on the color challenge when this challenge was posted so I stopped everything.  I almost cannibalized my cuts for the color challenge when I spotted all the hot air balloons I had cut a few days ago from the Wild Card 2 cartridge, hoping that Piper could use them for her thank-you cards to send for the First Communion gifts she received.  I abandoned them when I realized there were too many pieces for her to enjoy that idea... and as you can see, I don't exactly throw stuff away quickly.

My problem was that I had to make a card with at least one Cricut cut... and I hadn't cut the coordinating pieces... and since they weren't on the desk (nor was the cartridge) I couldn't just cut them... so I used techniques from Jana's webinar to finish one of them!

I used chalk to create the clouds.... and I used awhite pen to doodle.

I also doodled a little person to ride in the balloon using an index card that I use to take notes, and I added a banner to the balloon.

I used colored pencils to try the gamsol technique we were shown...first coloring the edges with colored pencil...

Then I used the paper nub to blend with gamsol (colorless mineral spirits).  I added dark chalk to make shadows under the pennants.

Well, okay, I need to practice this gamsol technique quite a bit more to lose those stroke marks... but since I am a few minutes away from the deadline... it will have to do for now!

Thank you for indulging me in this less-than-stellar card... Yay!  I might just get this posted in time!