A Dilemma and Collaboration

I needed to make some Thank You cards (“some” meaning “lots”) which creates a big dilemma: how do I stay true to my style of creating yet tone it down enough to create several duplicate cards?

I had an idea as to what I wanted to do. This idea was inspired by a beautiful card I saw on the Inspiration in Action blog. Gretchen used the new large doily stamp from Stampin’ Up! to create a stunning card. From this card I gathered inspiration for the color combination as well as for the layout. If I had it my way (and lots and lots of time), then I would make this exact card fifty times, but that wasn’t too practical for my current project. What to do? What to do?

Lucky for me, my mother came to visit this past weekend and I took advantage of her creative eye (and fingers and super skill with MDS). With her great help, I was able to nail down a design that not only reflects my inspiration card, but also was practical to replicate many times.

I haven’t used Stampin’ Up!’s My Digital Studio (MDS) very much, so I really leaned on my mother’s skills with it. I really enjoyed how much it streamlined the creation of this project. First, instead of stamping one hundred and fifty petals, I simply printed them out on my color printer and punched them out. Second, I was able to find the perfect sentiment and customize the size to fit my card. Finally, I was able to customize the polka-dot background image with Lovely Lilac (a retired color for which I still have cardstock, but not any coordinating DSP).

I really like the final version of this card; I may even duplicate it even more with various color combos…one to fit which ever mood I may be in at the time I give one away. Who knows, you may even get one….

Recipe: Watercolor Trio, Build a Blossom, and Hip and Handsome Overlays digital stamp sets; Concord Crush, Lovely Lilac (this is a retired SU color, but it is similar to the new Wisteria Wonder), Whisper White, and Certainly Celery card stock; blossoms petal, 1/8” circle, and Itty Bitty Shapes Pack punches; two way glue pen; mini glue dots; My Digital Studio.