Another Party?!?

German Phrase of the Day: Kannst du mir verzeihen? = Can you forgive me? I might be saying this to my sister-in-law when I give her this card! (Nancy...don't let her see it here please!!!) But, when I spend over 2 hours on a single card, it darn well is going to someone I know that will appreciate all the time, effort and love that went into it! Besides...she has a "milestone" birthday this year...so I have a feeling I will be saving up a few cards for it (it isn't until August!!)

You all know me...I make fairly quick, simple cards. I like to focus on my coloring, have a few quick and easy embellies, and get it done. So, when I say I spent 2 hours making a card, and that's one where the layout and colors were determined by challenges, you know it must be a labor of love. The GinaK Designs release party last night was lots of fun...and there were 4 awesome challenges issued by my fellow DT Members. Well, of course once I was up and recovered from my middle of the night partying I had to get to work.

I decided why not combine the 3 card challenges into one? The sketch was a great one, with plenty of room to incorporate a scene, and having the colors pre-set made the design part a breeze. Of course, I don't have the new sets yet (HELLO Deutsche Post, I'm waiting!!!) so I needed to use some previously released sets, and this fun You Know You're Old When set has been calling out to me lately. Well...scenes aren't easy as I've discovered. I stamped my Little Old Lady Driving first, then masked her (with Eclipse masking tape, the best product EVER!) then stamped the flowers from one of the Baskets of Happiness stamps - while carfully NOT samping the basket, or eggs! Then, I had to create a mask for them too so I could stamp the trees from my SU! Lovely as a Tree set. Phew!!

Once everything was stamped, I colored it in with my Prismacolors. Then, after having applied what I thought was enough color, I started blending. I have learned a few things about coloring with Prismacolor pencils. It is different from watercoloring. You can't "spread" the color as well as when watercoloring, and so when doing a large area...it can get tricky (thus the splotchy parking lot!) If I were ever crazy enough to make this card again I would watercolor the parking lot with watercolor crayons. However, it is quite easy to add more color with the pencils if you didn't get enough down on your first pass.

After coloring and blending everything, I was ready to put the card together. That was the easiest part!! I added some ribbon to cover the seem (I really don't like unsightly paper seams that much!) and then put some brads from the new stylized silver HPH on the greeting, and I was good to go. Oh...and of course I stamped the sentiment on the inside reading "getting lucky means you found your car in the parking lot."

You still have time to win some of the brand new GinaK stamps (or even an old set if you prefer) by entering the contests on SCS. Go to the member forum to see all 4 challenges, then upload your creations with the correct keyword by Thursday night at 7pm central, and you could win a stamp set valued at 18.95 or less. That gives you a lot of options!!! Can't wait to see what you all create!!

Supplies: (all supplies are SU! unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: You Know You're Old When and Baskets of Happiness by GinaK Designs, Lovely as a Tree
Ink: Palette Noir
CS: Stamper's Select White, Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Sky
Acc: Double-stitched soft sky ribbon, stylized silver HPH, prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stumps, eclipse masking tape

TFL!