Reason to Smile

I just got home from a full day of work, class, and dinner with a friend and found my box of Stampin' Up! catalogs waiting for me!!! Since I didn't get my preview catalog until after my preview order arrived at my home, I was pretty surprised to see the catalogs here in a timely fashion. So, before I'm off to crawl into bed to carefully look it over, I wanted to share this card for Diane's weekly Sunday morning challenge. I actually got to her Sunday challenge before the end of the week this time! The challenge was to use a sentiment from a retiring SU! set, but no images, in the layout she provided.

I used a stamp from a set that's entirely sentiments--Wonderful Words 2. When I first saw Wonderful Words, and later, Wonderful Words 2, I thought they were sets I'd never own because they just weren't my "style." However, that opinion changed (as I often find happens to my opinions about stamps . . .) and I ended up with both sets and have used them often. They're an elegant addition to cards for many occasions.

In addition to the "smile" sentiment, I used the retiring Spring Showers designer papers to add some color and pattern to the card. I also added a stack of three velvet flowers from a box of Prima flowers. The flowers come in a bunch of different shapes, sizes, and colors. I was able to find three different ones that were a good match for the colors in the designer paper.

Materials Used:
From Stampin' Up!: Wonderful Words 2 stamp set; Brocade Blue Classic ink; Brocade Blue and Whisper White cardstock; Spring Showers designer paper; cream grosgrain; mat pack and paper piercing tool
Other: velvet flowers (Prima); copper brad (Making Memories)