A Little Birthday Inspiration

My brother-in-law just had a birthday (Happy Birthday Liang!) and I was trying to figure out what kind of birthday card to make for him. I remember seeing a color challenge that included two of Stampin’ Up!’s new In Colors, Island Indigo and Pool Party, and grey; I thought this would be perfectly suited for his card.

As I thought about which stamp set to use, I came across the best dog set…unfortunately I don’t know what it’s called or from what company…and knew it was perfect. At this point I wasn’t sure about much else besides the colors and the stamps. I remembered that my sister sent me some pictures (she was happy with my bedding-to-card pictures and thought I could draw inspiration from her pictures) so I looked through them and think I found the perfect match:

I like the blocking of the rug and how the white of her dog, Sally (not Daisy, right Eileen?), pops against the colors. I used that idea for the format of my card. With a little help from SU’s My Digital Studio, I was able to find the perfect sayings and get them onto paper (in the proper color…I love that) and work them in. I also love the manner which the card opens - using the dog's nose to hold it closed...love it:

After completing the card and looking over it next to the picture I realized that I could make one more comparison: texture. I added the diamond plating embossing to the blocking section of the card to add an additional element of interest/texture, but can now see that they could resemble the toy cars which are also placed on the rug. Who knew, right?

How else do you think the toy cars could have been “worked in” to the card?

Recipe: Ruff (since I don’t know the real name) stamp set; Island Indigo and Pool Party patterned paper; Basic Grey, Pool Party, and Whisper White cardstock; grey textured paper; Island Indigo classic ink; Versamark ink; white embossing powder; diamond plate embossing folder; sponges; My Digital Studio; dimentionals.