I’m way past due to get some thank you cards out in the mail, so I created a batch of these pretties yesterday. I absolutely adore the Flowers of Friendship stamp set, and happily it has a perfect greeting to send a thank you wish. I remember back in April attending the online Stampin’ Up! event that included stamping sessions featuring new products from the “big” catalog. One memory in particular that stands out for me is a very clever presentation that a demonstrator put together for this stamp set. The bundle is great with a coordinating punch, but what she highlighted is all of the different ways that you can color the images. The different looks that you can achieve with different media is really impressive. She also created a sample board that she can show customers so they can learn about different options and consider them for their own projects. It was a brilliant take on the set! For this card, I used the Stampin’ Blends, which I dearly love.
You also may be wondering about that patterned paper on the card. I used some of the Beautifully Penned paper that is one of the free Sale-A-Bration options, and colored it with Old Olive ink using my Blending Brushes. I was trying all of the patterns of the paper, and they either were too dark, too busy or too white for my taste when partnered with the other elements on the card. Then I had the brain blast of turning the paper into a color that better suited my needs. This is a super-easy way to have paper in any color that works for your project – I encourage you to try it out!
The current Global Design Project challenge was just the inspiration that I needed to get these thank you cards done. As I said earlier, I’ve been meaning to get these cards in the mail for a while, and this challenge was just the push that I needed to finally get them done. Last week was a little crazy for me as I prepped everything for my Biggest Wish class, and this week I finally have a little time to focus on some creativity. I had a lot of fun putting together these cards, and I’m so glad that the team at the Global Design Project had this theme challenge this week. Merci GDP Team!
I used this old sketch from the Freshly Made Sketches team for my layout inspiration. I knew that I wanted to color the flowers on the stem in the set, so I needed a layout that featured a vertical rectangle layer. I love the diagonal strips, and they were perfect to show off some of the colors in the palette that I used. This card led me to discover that Melon Mambo is a perfect pairing with Polished Pink as a darker tone of the same color. I like them together with the pretty Black Glitter strip in between. It definitely adds a certain zip to the card that I enjoy – I’m so happy that Stampin’ Up! brought that Black Glitter paper back!
 |  |  | |
 |  | ||
 |  | ||
 |  |
