One of my goals for this new year of 2012 is to participate in at least one card challenge each week.  For the first week of January, I chose The Color Throwdown #173.  The challenge colors for this week were:

I'm getting better at putting together black and white cards, but throw in that 'red' and I'm 'color challenged' to a big degree!  To make it easy on myself I used the sketch at Card Patterns (#147) so all I had to do was figure out how to make something with these colors.
Here is what I came up with.  As I look at it, I wish I would have done some things differently, but it's done.  And since I have a friend with a birthday this week to whom I will be sending it, I won't have to look at it for long! LOL

The card base is a digital DP from the City Slickers kit at Everyday Mom Ideas.  I inked the edges of it with SU! Basic Black using first a nylon stocking, and then a sponge.  I stamped the swirly from the SU! Friendship Blooms set in SU! Real Red right on the DP.  The flower trio is from the same stamp set.  I stamped it in Basic Black right on the white CS, then colored with Real Red from the Stampin' Pastels.  I didn't like how flat or dull that was, so I stamped the flowers again on a scrap, colored them with Real Red ink, then cut them out and popped them up with Stampin' Dimensionals.  The sentiment is from the SU! It's Your Birthday set, stamped in Basic Black.  The corners of the white are punched with a Fiskars corner punch.  I used the SU! 1/4" circle to punch the holes where I threaded the red sheer ribbon (which I found in my stash drawer).  Then I decided the white was too stark so before I glued everything down, I removed the ribbon and used the nylon stocking to rub some Real Red ink onto the edges of the white, and my sponge to ink the very edges with Basic Black.  You can't see these in the photo very well, since it was after dark when I finished and this had to be taken with the flash.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my first posted card of 2012.  Hope we'll be seeing lots more of each other this year than we did last year! =)

Blessings!

Challenges:
Color Throwdown #173
Card Patterns Sketch 147

A Wedding!

We got some exciting news this week.  My eldest daughter's close friend called to tell us she is getting married.  This, of course is a great reason to make a card.....so I did!

I found a new challenge I wanted to try at CardPatterns, (I think I got there from Lovely Linda's blog.....I think!), so I used this challenge as well as this week's Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge #87 as the inspiration for this card.  

Marilynn is the hostess at SSIC this week, and she chose the verse Romans 8:28:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

Marilynn's devotional and testimony are so amazing that I can't even begin to think of anything else to say.........so I won't.  But please, click over to her blog and read beautiful, encouraging, inspiring words from a heart that serves the King of Kings.  (There isn't a link available directly to her post so I've sent you to her blog.  At this time the post is at the top, but if you don't find it there, look for the date 'May 1, 2011')

Marilynn's challenge was to use no DP.  I chose white CS from my stash as my base, and then decided I wanted some color on this card.  I still had this piece of Sage Shadow that was used for the test run through my Cuttlebug Ornamental Iron emboss folder.  Although you can't see it in the picture, the half circle at the top of the card is bg stamped with a flower image in Blush Blossom and then I inked the edges with VersaMark and gold embossed. 

The flower in the center was stamped in Sage Shadow and the 'love' was embossed in gold.  I matted this on Blush Blossom and then popped it up on a dimensional inside the crocheted circle (no center to this) which was hand crocheted by......ME! =)

The white ribbon is from my stash and has a little sparkly flower pattern to it.  I thought that would be enough but then decided the gems from SU! were really necessary to finish this off.  All supplies and materials not already noted are from SU!

Challenges:
CardPatterns - sketch
Stampin' Sisters in Christ - No DP

Thanks for stopping!