Simply Sketched with a bit of Gorgeous Grunge

Colour challenges are a great way to push the creative boundaries - using colour combinations you wouldn't have chosen quite often sends you into other directions you may not have gone into as well! That definitely happened to me with the card I made with this week's Calypso Coral and Black palette at Dynamic Duos. In fact I'm still not quite sure where it came from! Come and see:

I started with this wonderful poppy image from Stampin' Up's stunning Simply Sketched stamp set, stamping it in black and colouring it with my Calypso Coral marker. The flower was then masked so that I could add a cross-hatched background using a stamp from the Gorgeous Grunge set  - which is now permanently out on my desk!

The tape image from the Grunge set was stamped over the stems of the flowers and I stamped another poppy, cut it out and layered it over the first to make a bunch. To embellish, I added a snipped-out sentiment and a piece of scrap card stock stamped with Filmstrip. The whole thing was layered onto a gorgeous scrap of Epic Day designer paper.

When I came up for air I wasn't sure what to make of it... in fact I'm still not! The Dynamic Duos colour challenge came with an option to use butterflies and I fully intended to do this but it just didn't happen somehow! Do you ever start a card with an idea and end up doing something quite different?

• Stampin' Up hostess stamp sets are exclusive designs that are usually only available to customers spending £150 or more or those that host a qualifying workshop but members of my Stampers 6 club get to choose them in their 'hostess' month if they want to. Check here for details.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Simply Sketched (hostess set), Gorgeous Grunge, Filmstrip
Ink: Stazon black, Calypso Coral marker
Card stock: Whisper White
Other:  Epic Day designer paper, paper snips
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Yesterday I was in the middle of making a card when my daughter came home from school. "I think I might put some little gems on the flowers," I was muttering to myself as she came through the door. "What? lettuces!" she said brightly. "That would be lovely Mummy! A card embellished with lettuces!" Hmm. She has no idea about artistic torment! (And neither do I come to think of it!)

See you tomorrow,