Pretty and Bright

I love the bright colours of the Pals Paper Arts combo this week, and I was excited to use it with the Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

The Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack was perfect for this challenge as they feature the colours of the PPA challenge.  I chose the gorgeous Bermuda Bay and Whisper White polka dots sheet, isn't it yummy!  I was a bit stumped as to what to add to the strip across the card, until I thought about adding the lace border punched in Whisper White and added to Crumb Cake, it was a bit big so I trimmed it down and added some Real Red Candy Dots.  

Happy Stamping

Monique

Polka Dot Birthday

What fun I had with these challenges!  Just Us Girls inspiration challenge, Stampin' Royalty colour challenge, and Friday Mashup which was to use polka dots and/or a fancy fold!  So really four challenges in one card.

This is the front of the card, I saw this fancy fold when surfing Pinterest, and when I saw FMU was a fancy fold I knew it was the perfect time to give it a try.  I can not find the original creator, but if you recognise them please let me know so I can give credit.  The strip of DSP gives the illusion of a single panel on the front of the card.

As the card opens up you can see the fancy fold and the little panels inside for messages and images.  The Sketched Birthday stamp set is just perfect for this card. along with the large sentiments from Perfect Pennants of course!  It is sort of like 2/3 of a tri-fold card.

 Here I have opened the card all the way so that you can see the different panels,  the blank area is great for writing your message, it will be hidden when the card is closed. I stamped the little party hat in StazOn ink onto the card base after adding the strip of DSP, then stamped again onto Daffodil Delight DSP before cutting out just the hat and adding it to the card.  A touch of Dazzling Diamonds on the candle and front cupcake image gives just a little sparkle.

I re-jigged the measurements to fit a standard A5 card front size (14.8cm x 10.5cm). A paper trimmer is just great for these sorts of cuts and folds.  Cut on the solid line and fold on the dotted lines.


Edit:
How very exciting, my card this week was chosen as the Top Pick in

The Friday Mashup!!!

and
Stampin' Royalty!!!!

Happy Stamping

Modern Vintage Flowers

Lest We Forget.  Today is ANZAC Day, a day Australians and New Zealanders commemorates "the anniversary of the first major military action by Australian and New Zealand forces during the first World War" - Australian War Memorial. It has grown to be a day to remember all the brave men and women in our armed forces who have defended the freedom of this country and others. 

ANZAC day is a pubic holiday in Australia and it has given me the opportunity for some crafting.  I found a few challenges to enter to get my creativity flowing Fusion Challenge, Just Add Ink, and Stampin' Up! Only Challenge to feature flowers.

I just love the colours in this challenge, as my daughter said vintage but just bright enough to make it modern. I haven't used my Oh, Hello stamp set much, and am a bit sad to see it on the US retirement list, so decided I best get it out and inked up in case it retires here too.  I stamped the chevrons and was going to put them on the flower panel full size, but they seemed a bit big and overwhelming.  Instead I punched them with the Chevron Punch.  The flower and sentiment are both from Blooming with Kindness, not on the retired list which makes me very happy.  I embossed the flower with White Embossing Powder then sponged Crumb Cake and Bermuda Bay over the top, sentiment is also done with White Embossing Powder and really pops.  The Crumb Cake base seemed a little pale so I stamped the flower image along the edges in Baked Brown Sugar to give some subtle detail.  

I hope you like my card, and take a moment to remember armed forces who so selflessly risk their lives for our freedom.

Happy Stamping