Yikes!  I’m a little late today with my post for this week’s challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches.  I made a card yesterday but I wasn’t very happy with it.  As I was trying to fall asleep last night, another idea popped up in my mind.  So I got up this morning and gave it a try… and as luck would have it, it didn’t go quite as easily as I’d hoped.  But anyway…

I wanted to combine this week’s sketch challenge with the ombre challenge at Less is More and the “hello” challenge at AAA Cards.  My first card had a large flourish that I inked in three shades of blue, but I just wasn’t pleased with the overall look of it.  For my second attempt, I thought of using the sentiment “hello, sunshine” with my sunburst stencil.  I used two different shades of yellow to ink the stencil design, layering the darker shade to make it bolder toward the center of the design and fading out the lighter shade toward the edges.  Then I went to my stamps, looking for what I thought was a “hello, sunshine” stamp… and was disappointed to discover that the stamp only says “sunshine”, and it’s made to be used with a “hello” die.  At that point I thought, “My ‘hello’ die is going to look too big.  I have alphabet stamps, so I can spell out the sentiment with them.”  That didn’t go too badly, other than trying to position an apostrophe stamp for the comma… until I stamped the sentiment.  The first two times, the sentiment came out splotchy and messy looking.  So I cleaned the stamps and tried again.  That was slightly better but the letters still looked fuzzy.  So I figured I’d try my “hello” die anyway.  It turned out that the die filled up some of the tiny areas of the stencil that didn’t ink up well.  So I went with it, using textured cardstock for the die cut.  And finally the card came together.

Despite all the troubles I had putting this card together, it’s still a lot better than my first card!

I hope you’ll have better luck creating a card with this sketch, and that you’ll share it with us at CC&S!  You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, January 16 to link your card there.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: none
Cardstock: Solar White (Neenah); Summer Sun textured (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Summer Sun, Daffodil Delight (SU)
Other: Simply Said Hello die (Avery Elle); Rays stencil (Tim Holtz)