
This is the card that I created for the In Color club to feature Polished Pink. I drew the inspiration for the color combination from the pretty DSP strip on the left. There are so many colors in the Pansy Petals DSP so it was easy to pick a couple of other colors to partner with the brightness of the Polished Pink to soften it a little bit. I used the light Polished Pink Stampin’ Blends marker to change the color of the white organdy ribbon so that it would coordinate perfectly with the card. I wanted something a little softer than the Polished Pink ribbon, and the sheer white was just the ticket.
So many of the products that I used for this card are on the retirement list and I’m very sad to say goodbye to them. The Hippo Happiness stamps and coordinating dies will be missed – especially the dies. There are some great dies for layering elements, and I really had fun using them a lot over the last couple of years. I’ve also appreciated the small design of the Ornate Floral 3D embossing folder, it has been just the right touch of texture and pattern for several of my creations. And lastly, I will especially miss the Pansy Petals DSP! There are some great designs in that paper, and I have gotten a lot of use out of it in the last year. If you want any of these items, I encourage you to get your order in while these items are still available. Retiring items can be sold out very quickly once the list comes out!

This older sketch from Freshly Made Sketches was my design inspiration for my card. The vertical strip was an obvious opportunity (at least to me) to use some of the pretty patterned paper, and I enlarged the focal image to accommodate the greeting along with the pretty butterfly. Speaking of the butterfly, I stamped off the solid image so it would be lighter and still coordinate perfectly with the 1st generation stamping of the details. Stamping off is one of the simplest techniques for stretching your ink colors. Don’t be afraid to experiment with it!