Wishing You Everything Good

This card combines a couple of challenges: the Embellish Decorative Trim Color Trends Challenge and the Hero Arts April Contest. I've had this Hero Arts background, A Village, for a few months now and really needed to use it. I think I'll be sending this card to friends of ours who recently moved from Toronto to Milano, Italia. A Village reminds me of Italy and that's why I bought it! I just got some new star dies that were perfect for one of the Hero Arts April Contest sketches but I had to use the sketch vertically as opposed to horizontally to fit the stamp so I hope that's okay. As for the colours, I interpreted the middle colour as yellow even though it has a hint of green in it. I thought the sentiment looked better on an angle, too. I know this isn't the style of card you usually see on my blog but it was fun to try something new and different.

I'm celebrating my second blogoversary this month with quite a few giveaways! Be sure to keep an eye on my blog for further details. All comments this month will give you a chance to win so be sure to comment on every post! You would anyway, right? ;) In the meantime, here's one of my giveaways to get you excited: three pretty little spools of American Crafts ribbon.

Sources: SU So Saffron, Old Olive & Naturals Ivory cardstock; Hero Arts A Village; Hero Arts Essential Messages; SU Old Olive ink; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Papertrey Ink Star Die Collection; Papertrey Ink Simply Chartreuse felt; QuicKutz Epic Six; SU Victoria 5/8" crochet trim; The Twinery Honeydew baker's twine; Gutermann thread; sewing machine; Basic Grey button; EK Success 3/4" circle punch; Glue Dots minis; Scor-Tape

Thinking of You

I made this card using one of the sketches for the Hero Arts April Contest, as well as the colour palette from Color Throwdown #135. This is my first time playing in this colour challenge and I thought these would be great colours for the masculine part of the Hero Arts April Contest as well.

I used the Classic Bike and the tricycle from Joy Ride to create a background for the red panel. As Michelle Bartnett explains in this tutorial, you must remove the actual portion of the image that is missing from the space instead of just spreading it apart, otherwise it does not look realistic. I did just that where you see a tiny portion of the red strip is missing to expose the yellow card base.

I chose a couple of sentiments from Essential Messages and linked them together with the ampersand from Typewriter Letters. I popped both the ribbon tail and the circle and added some charcoal twine to finish. It took a lot of maneuvering of the pieces to get this card just right but I'm extremely satisfied with it. Now I don't know if I can give it away. LOL

Sources: SU So Saffron, Real Red & Naturals Ivory cardstock; Gina K Designs pure luxury Black Onyx cardstock; Hero Arts Classic Bike, Joy Ride, Essential Messages & Typewriter Letters; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Vivid Red ink; Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large; QuicKutz Epic Six; Marvy-Uchida 1/8" long reach circle punch; SU paper piercer; Anchor cross stitch needle; The Twinery Charcoal baker's twine; Stampin' Dimensionals

Unity FWF Blog Hop {Apr 1st}

Happy Friday! I'm here with another Unity creation for the April Fool's edition of Friends With Flair! You know the drill. Start at the Unity Blog later this morning for a full list of participants. Hop along, be dazzled by all the inspiration and then go shopping at the Unity Store. ;) Look for the FWF blinkie and leave a comment on that blog for a chance to win 25 random Unity stamps!

My card uses a sentiment from the March 2010 Kit of the Month - Favorite Things/Rockin' It Unity Style. This sentiment is huge and it makes me happy! (My photos always enlarge if you click on them so feel free to have a closer look.) I didn't even know this sentiment was in the kit because it's not pictured on the legend for the kit. Now I'm wondering what else I don't know about. LOL The vase is from the same kit and the flowers are from the November 2009 Store Kit - Believe in Fairytales. It was very hard to see the pattern on the flower since I stamped it in pale pink so I decided to stamp Ippity's A Bit of Burlap on top. To add dimension, I punched out a second set of centres for the flowers, adhered them and added green stones. The flowers still looked too pale so I sponged the edges with a darker pink. I adhered the bottom three flowers flat on the card base and popped the top one with foam tape. This card uses colours from the colourQ challenge #78 and it's my first time playing along in this challenge. :)

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury kraft & 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; SU Early Espresso & Certainly Celery cardstock; Unity November 2009 Store Kit - Believe in Fairytales; Unity March 2010 Kit of the Month - Favorite Things/Rockin' It Unity Style; Ippity A Bit of Burlap; Ranger Walnut Stain Distress Ink; SU Pink Pirouette, Pink Passion & Wild Wasabi inks; Ranger Blending Tool; hole punch; Mini Glue Dots; Paper Mania Coloured Adhesive Stones (from mustavcoffee); Stampin' Dimensionals