Blogger Sketch Challenge from Diane

Diane posted this sketch challenge on her blog last Sunday. I'm finally getting to it this weekend. Along with providing a sketch to follow, she also listed a stamp set (Tag Time) and colors to use (Tempting Turquoise, Gable Green, Orchid Opulence, and Whisper White) for the sketch. When I first started stamping, I was a frequent Bold Brights user. Now, I find myself reaching for all of the other SU! color families much more than the Bold Brights. Interesting how tastes change over time, isn't it? So, reaching for only colors from the Bold Brights for this card was a true challenge.

I must admit that I didn't stay exactly true to Diane's layout (I hope that's okay, Diane!). I had a hard time making the turquoise panels fit when I oriented the card vertically, probably because my focal image was more square than rectangular. I flipped the layout horizontally and liked that much better. I stamped the balloon image in black ink, then stamped it again so I could punch out the balloons with a circle punch. I colored the punched out circles with my aquapainter and ink from the lids of my ink pads, then accented them with Stickles. I attached them to the complete balloon image with dimensionals. I also stamped the sentiment part of the image again, this time using Orchid Opulence ink, then cut it out closely and adhered it over the sentiment in the complete image. Adding the Stickles and dimensionals really added to the image.

Materials Used:
From Stampin' Up!: Tag Time and Dotted stamp sets; Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Orchid Opulence, and Gable Green inks; Tempting Turquoise, Orchid Opulence, Gable Green, and Whisper White cardstock; small corner rounder; ticket corner punch; 3/4" circle punch; dimensionals; aquapainter
Other: Turquoise, Lime Green, and Crystal Stickles (Ranger)