Splitcoaststampers Card Sketch Challenge

Emma went back to school this past Sunday and that was harder than when we dropped her off in August for her first semester as a freshman.  Why is that?  Is it because back in August she still felt like "mine" and our home was still 100% her home since that's all she'd known?  And now she's developed another home where her "real" life is now and it gives me a bittersweet feeling?  The leaving this time felt more like cutting the apron strings than last summer.  No matter the why, I just know I miss her so much!  

I dove into making a card for this week's Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge to take my mind off my oldest girl's absence.  As soon as I saw the sketch, what jumped into my mind was how perfect it is for showing off gorgeous Designer Series Paper (DSP).

The colors of this particular piece from the Peaceful Poppies DSP pack caught my eye and I had to pull out some Pool Party and Poppy Parade cardstock to get playing!

An easy technique that adds a soft, subtle, but very interesting detail is to use a blender pen to color stamped images.  Stamp your image in any color (Poppy Parade ink with an image from Painted Poppies used here), then use a blender pen to pull that color around the image.  Be careful not to overwork the paper, though, or it will pill (ball up into little fuzzies, just like a sweater).  I like to quickly color in circles when doing this technique.

These poppy and leaf images are from the Painted Poppies set.  I filled them in with Poppy Parade and Old Olive inks using the solid wash and splatter images from that set.  The Painted Labels dies were used to cut out all the images.  Everything was layered on a black embossed circle from a Peaceful Poppies Elements pack (featured in my Facebook Live yesterday).

The sentiment is from the free Sale-A-Bration set Sending You Thoughts.  I stamped in Versamark, sprinkled with White Stampin' Emboss Powder, then melted with a Heat Tool.  I trimmed it close with Paper Snips to allow more of the colorful poppies to show.

Check out the entire Peaceful Poppies suite.

Add the Blender Pens to try this background technique.

See the video to make this card.

Remember, any order of $35 or more (before shipping and tax) receives the project kits to make the two cards demo'd in the Live!  Use Host Code 349VN7VY and be sure to place your order by Midnight ET this Friday!

You can find the project sheet here.

Many blessings to your day, friend!