IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED.....

Try, try again!!!

I must say, for the previous challenges that Cindy and Debbie posted for their Simply Paper Design Challenge, things went pretty smoothly. The one for April, however, has had me scratching my head. Check it out here on Cindy's blog. This also shows the sketch and colors:

The sketch was fine --- I actually also used it for one of my swap cards for May for my Little Debbies group (which I will post later). But that Debbie --- she really has challenged me with her color combo. But I figure it is not called a challenge for nothing. The Tangerine Tango is what threw me for a loop. I ended up only using it to color my butterfly and the belly of my Robin Red Breast (or, in this case, Robin Tangerine Breast).

I was planning on mailing this to a friend, so I wanted to keep it as flat as possible. No dimensionals or bling added. The bow is made using glue dots to hold it in place, not tied. The "Thinking of You" is from the Thoughts and Prayers set. It actually has additional sentiment on the stamp, but I had read on a blog somewhere to place scotch tape over the part of the sentiment you do not want, ink your stamp up and then remove the tape and stamp only what is inked. Worked great, except next time I need to remember to not attach the tape so well to the wooden block. I used the dots folder for the Big Shot to add texture to the Pear Pizzazz layer, which is attached to the Garden Green base. Soft Suede mattes my image layer, which comes from the Serene Spring set (retired).

But, I was not satisfied with that one. It is okay, but I feel I needed to use TT cardstock in some way. So, I came up with this one:

Lots of TT on this one. My styling alligator (from the Long Fellows Hostess Level 2 set) is Garden Green with a Pear Pizzaz fin thing on top and Tangerine Tango dots. She even decided to get a little fancy and painted her nails TT, too. The sentiment is from It's Your Birthday (retired).

But I still was not all that happy with it, so Try #3:

For this one I used the retired Sparkling Summer stamp set with the sentiment from the new Touch of Kindness set out of the Summer Mini that starts today. I placed strips of Pear Pizzazz, TT and Garden Green on a Soft Suede base. What better to have in the summer than a nice, cold orange popsicle, some sparkling orange drink with a slice of lime, or a triple decker ice cream cone with orange sherbet, chocolate and mint chocolate chip ice cream? Okay, I do not like mint chocolate chip ice cream, but the colors worked. This one looks a whole lot better in real life. You can click on the pictures if you want a little closer look.

I can't wait to see what Cindy and Debbie come up with. I am sure they will slay this challenge with their usual talent. As frustrated as I was with this at times, I had fun playing along. Thanks for the challenge, ladies. Looking forward to next month...... Check back soon to see my other card using this sketch, too.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!!!