Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #7

I seem to have really bad luck when a sketch challenge is presented as "simple"- lol! This little card with the seemingly easy sketch became a true challenge for me. I knew that I wanted to make a baby shower card for one of my scrapbooking friends that is expecting a baby girl in August. I was going to a crop Friday night so I looked up Beate's Weekend Challenge for inspiration ahead of time. Now I LOVE to get together with friends to work on scrapbook layouts and cards but I must admit I do a lot more socializing than anything else! So after the crop, I essentially had the start of about 3 cards. For this card, I had completed the main image including matting it with the scalloped Lavender Lace CS but that was it. This was my first attempt at the Gamsol Magic technique. It is a technique that will take a bit of practice but the results are so nice that it is worth it. I will definitely use this technique again (and again.) Tonight I sat down and, wanting to participate in the challenge, knew I had to get it done. The rosebuds on the little jacket were my inspiration for the rest of the card. I searched through my "ever growing" collection of patterned papers but could find nothing that I felt went with my stamped image so I turned to my SU stamps for help. A great selling point for SU is with all the coordinating papers and inks, you can always come up with a patterned paper to fit your needs! The little rosebud from Wild Roses was just the ticket. I used a stamping off technique for the 2 step stamping and I added a little Stardust clear pen for a bit of sparkle. After clearing the PP hurdle, I had a bit of trouble deciding on ribbon but that was minimal. My final struggle was the sentiment. Part of my problem, I realized, was my main image was too large for this particular layout. It took several mis-tries before I decided on the oval surrounded by the Quickutz rosebuds. I'm not sure that this will be my shower card but, as far as this challenge goes, I am finished! Take care!

Sweet Pea Card recipe
Stamps: Wild Roses, Warm Words, Lockhart - Sweet Pea
Paper: Lavender Lace, Whisper White, Apricot Appeal
Ink: Lavender Lace, Gable Green, Palette- Noir
Accessories: Oval Scalloped Punch, Oval Punch, white gel pen, paper piercer, Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, blending stubs, Sakura clear Stardust pen, Quickutz, SU oval punch, Magic Matters, ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals