The Challenge #86

Hello everyone and welcome! Today's card is for The Challenge where we have a sketch challenge for you this week.  I realized as I was finishing up my project that I did no stamping on my project - alas, the reason I struggle to use patterned papers! So this post is an example of what you can do if you don't have time to stamp something but you still need a card for a special occasion.  Lesley provided dimensions for you or you can wing it which is what I have done. Even though there isn't any stamping on this card, I really like how this card came together.

All of the papers came from the same 6x6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye Fancy That Collection. I had some of these papers a few years ago from a Simon Says Stamp Card Kit and loved them! Then when we were in Dallas for Christmas last year, I picked three more pads up at Michaels. Because these papers were all meant to work together, it was super easy to pull a coordinated look together.  

I love the way color blocking looks and I wanted to incorporate that into my card. This particular sheet comes with 4 stripes, but I cut off the eggshell white stripe and then used it for one of my vertical pieces (#4).  The color blocked panel was cut with a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die in the largest size. I used a bit of washi tape to hold it in place so it wouldn't come out crooked.


The paper with the Gold Confetti on it was cut with a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle two sizes down from the largest.  This pattern has the gold confetti bits going all around with open space in the center so I positioned the die to include the confetti in primarily one corner.  The pale pink confetti piece is cut from the pattern that has much more confetti on the whole pattern and it was perfect for the little banner. That banner was cut from the Number The Stars Die by Papertrey Ink.  I use that die A LOT along with a couple of other ones from Papertrey that I use all the time.  Tag Sale Quilted has a banner the perfect size to go across a card and is another that I leave out all the time.  It has stitching all the way around and I love that.

Since I had two papers that used the Confetti, by the time I got this far, I thought it would make a fun and festive Birthday Card so I cut the "Happy Birthday" using a Penny Black Die that I have had for quite a few years.  I have several stamp sets that I could have used to stamp a greeting, but I wanted the gold to coordinate so I used the die.  The star is one from Spellbinders that cuts and embosses at the same time.  It has a long curly tail on it, but I had previously cut it off thinking I would use it for another project and then didn't. But I don't throw those things out so it was sitting there in my little container of "parts and pieces" as I call them. I try to keep all but the smallest scraps of any specialty paper as well and for a coordinated line such as this one, they get their own file pocket so that when I am trying to pull a look together, everything is right there.  

I assembled everything onto a top folding Horizontal Card Base made from Papertrey Ink's True Black Cardstock.  Whenever I use a black note card, I always put a white panel on the inside to write or stamp on.  I've found this much easier than trying to find a pen that works well on black cardstock.

Thank you so much for joining me today.  I hope you'll leave a comment and be sure to check out all the projects the design team has created to inspire you.  You can find the blog post here.