Encre, papier, ciseaux: A Teddy for Baby

This adorable teddy bear image comes from the Every Little Bit set. I had been wanting to make a card with it since I got the set and never got around to it. Then, earlier this week, I stumbled unto a new blog (new to me, at least), Dorcas' Designs. Dorcas' coloring is pretty amazing: she uses coloring pencils and often color directly on kraft cardstock, which creates such a nice, rich look that it inspired me to give it a try. I had also seen the Mojo Monday sketch and with all of those inspiration sources in mind, the ideas started floating as I was sitting in my car, stuck in traffic on the way back from work. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do: use the teddy image, color with pencils on kraft cardstock, punch image with the Stamp punch and layer over the Scallop Square punch, and use soft shades of green, yellow, blue and pink.

Oh, how I wish I could have such a clear game plan in my head every time I create! This card took a little while to create because of the time allowed to coloring, but overall, it was still fairly quick since I had such a clear vision of what I wanted the end result to be.

You might have noticed I also used pieces from the Create & Keep SS kit (from the Occasions mini). I had decided on Pear Pizzazz + Calypso Coral + Pool Party + So Saffron as my colors and just as I was reaching for my stash of patterned to paper to find one for the background, I stumbled upon the Create & Keep kit and whaddya know, the colors all match!

The striped patterned paper comes from the Just Eat Cake DSP pack and I dry-embossed it with the polka dot Texturz plate. The green tag comes from the Create & keep kit, but I wanted to hide the English word and substitute a French sentiment, so I stamped "purely adorable" on a piece of cardstock and punched it out with the Small Oval punch, popped it up and added two pearls. The scallop borders also come from the die-cut kit and I added the smallest pearls on the top one.

The background was stamped with the A to Z stamp, which I am really sad to see retiring as it is one of my favorites (love to pair it with teacher or children projects or with typewriter images - it's just cute and versatile!).

Inspiration: Mojo Monday Sketch #237

Color Combo: So Saffron + Pear Pizzazz + Pool Party +
Calypso Coral + Crumb Cake

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Every Little Bit, A to Z, Jolis mots
Cardstock: So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake
Designer paper: Just Eat Cake
Inks: So Saffron, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Scallop Square punch, Stamp punch, Create & Keep kit,
Small Oval punch, Pearls, White grosgrain ribbon, Polka Dot Texturz plate, color pencils