My husband was really surprised that Stampin’ Up! has the sentiment “because adulting is hard” in a stamp set. I’m actually really glad that they do because it was something commonly said around the time when this stamp set came out. I remember multiple conversations with my son along this line – figuring out insurance, filing taxes, looking for work, etc. The line “adulting is hard” said tongue in cheek came up often. And I have to say that adulting is hard even when you’re well past your 20’s. The latest difficult thing for me is the passing away of a sweet older lady in our church. She has been ill for a while, and we all just got word that she died yesterday. My heart is heavy for her family and especially for her husband of 60+ years. And this is definitely a tough part of “adulting” – figuring out the way to let grieving people know that you’re there for them. I actually started this card before I got the news yesterday and I was thinking of lighter “adulting” things like cooking dinner day after day and figuring out vacation logistics. So I’m going to enjoy this lighthearted card for today, and then get working on some sympathy cards – “because adulting is hard”.

This current color challenge is the inspiration for the bright colors that you see on my card. I am really in love with the In Colors this year! The bright colors really are fantastic for creating some cards that POP, and they are perfect especially for summer-y cards. I pretty quickly thought of those umbrella adorned tropical drinks as the perfect way to show off these colors. I had a lot of fun with this stamp set and hearing some steel drums in the background while I sip one by the beach. It was a great mental escape!

This current sketch challenge was the inspiration for my card. The elements of this layout are very pleasing to me, and it came together pretty quickly for me. I think the biggest challenge was picking the stamp set to use. I considered more than one floral set including the lovely Celebrate Sunflowers set with coordinating dies. In fact, I still may re-create this sketch using that set in the future; I just wasn’t totally feeling it yesterday. And, the sunflower imagery didn’t go as well with the colors that I wanted to use because of the color challenge.

I especially like how the glimmer paper in the center strip adds some zip to the card. I’m in love with that In Color Glimmer Paper! In the future I think this sketch will be a great way to showcase some pretty patterned paper, and I look forward to playing again.

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