Today’s card was inspired by a challenge from Freshly Made Sketches.  I haven’t taken part in a challenge in quite a while but they are a great resource if you’re looking for something to kick-start a project design.  The colour scheme is definitely my current favourite, combining the soft Petal Pink and neutral Crumb Cake.  For my sentiment I really wanted to give Ornate Thanks one more outing as I fear it will be on the Retiring List next week.  From there today’s simple Sunday project came together really quickly.

DELICATE BLOSSOMS

While I definitely had the “Thanks” sentiment in my mind, my project began with the Happy Hedgehogs Stamp Set. The delicate sapling with blossoms and leaves caught my eye as soon as I saw this set. As I thought about ink colours I decided I wanted to be able to stamp the image in a colour that would work for the entire thing. So that led me to the Crumb Cake ink pad.

The sapling would be my coordinating feature for the entire project so I stamped it three times. First I stamped the image on the left side on the front of a Basic White Medium Envelope. Then on a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Basic White Card. Finally I stamped it onto a 3-1/4″ x 4-1/2″ piece of Basic White Card.

Next I picked up a Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush. I have several of these, but this particular one is almost empty so I was really only using the brush and what was left of the shimmery solution. Using the brush tip I quickly ‘painted’ over each of the leaves on my three images. This also pulled out a little of the ink into the image. Next I dipped the tip of the brush into some Crumb Cake ink on the inside of the ink pad lid. Then using this ink I ‘painted’ the stem of each tree.

That just left the blossoms to colour and I couldn’t help but choose the dark Petal Pink Stampin’ Blends alcohol marker. No blending or special colouring techniques were used, just a solid layer of colour over each petal and bud. The centres of the flowers were left untouched.

ORNATE THANKS

With the colouring all complete I was ready for the sentiment from the Ornate Thanks Stamp Set. I chose the large “Thanks” and stamped it onto the smaller of the Basic White layers using Crumb Cake ink.

For my card base I decided on Petal Pink and used my Paper Trimmer to cut and score the card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder. On the inside of the card base I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to add the larger of the stamped white layers.

Referring back to the sketch I decided that the strip along the bottom needed to provide some bold contrast. So I pulled out my scraps of Early Espresso Card. Right there among the pile of pieces was a 1-5/8″ x 4-1/4″ strip and I simply glued it to the card base as it was.

Although the sketch doesn’t show a mat layer under the central piece I decided that one was needed. So I cut a 3-3/8″ x 4-5/8″ piece of Crumb Cake Card and mounted the sentiment layer onto it. Finally I attached the assembled piece to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals and my project was complete.

Here’s the original inspiration for my card from Freshly Made Sketches; FMS526.

Although I don’t do it a lot, I love using sketches as a jumping off point for a design. The nice thing is that you don’t have to follow them exactly, especially if they don’t specify layer sizes etc. What do you use when looking for project inspiration? Please leave me a comment below and share your ideas.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Happy Hedgehogs Stamp Set and coordinating Hedgehog Builder Punch (not used today) using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included links for both options in case you want to explore these further.