Variations on a Theme

Wow!  So many posts this week!  I'm on a roll, but my housework is definitely suffering!!!  I was inspired again this week by A la Card Monkey's challenge.  I'm working on ideas for the "Girls Night Out at Cafe M" on June 17th.  I wanted to create something that's relatively simple and that uses some colours from the "Getting Started" collection.  I decided to use Marina Mist, Old Olive and Real Red as my colour palette and here are some of the ideas I came up with:



Fabulous Florets again!

This is the one that I like the best and the one that I entered in the Monkey Challenge this week.  I couldn't resist using my "Fabulous Florets" stamp set again and I paired it with the birthday sentiment from "Sincere Salutations".    Rather than stamping an image on the card base I decided to try sponging Marina Mist ink on it.  I really liked the effect that it has in creating a bit of a shadow on the page.  I ran the Real Red strip through the Big Shot using the "Flower Garden" embossing folder and decided to use the negative side rather than the positive side this time.
The rest of the card is pretty straightforward.  The sentiment is punched using the Decorative Label punch (my favourite punch!) and the edges are sponged with Marina Mist ink.  The two "fabulous florets" are hand cut and adhered using Stampin' Dimensionals.

Upsy Daisy Birthday Card

 This was my second attempt at the design and using my chosen colour palette.  I really struggled with the placement of images and I'm still not convinced with this one.  I love using the "Upsy Daisy" stamp set for workshops with beginners because with shadow stamping one can create a really pretty effect that is super simple!  The Real Red strip on this one was dry embossed using the "Perfect Polka Dots" embossing folder with the Big Shot.  The sentiment comes from the "Upsy Daisy" stamp set, again, I love this set because it is so versatile for beginners and experienced stampers and comes with three sentiments.

Bold Blossom Thank You

Finally, this was my first attempt at the design.  I used the "Bold Blossom" set from the Summer Mini catalogue for this one even though the challenge was to create a birthday card.  Again, the Real Red strip is dry embossed using the "Perfect Polka Dots" embossing folder.  This is a super simple card.

I'm still not decided on which one I'll use for the Girls Night Out event....you'll just have to come out and see : )