Summer Birthday Card

Well, I'm not thrilled with this one. I still really like the ideas, but the execution is less than stellar. I think I have a habit of striking an awkward middle ground between "simple" and "lavish." This seems to be an example of exactly that. Perhaps smaller scale, it could have been left simpler and been very nice. Or with more "bling," it could have been more lavish and again been very nice. I also think the berry color is a little "forced." The line of stamping between the butterfly and the greeting should have been ribbon or the like, but that was an unfortunate result of having to use what I have instead of what I wish I had. So overall: good premise, so-so execution. Minimally, I wish I'd rounded all of the corners before gluing. Part of the problem is my comparatively small stash of supplies and thus options, but the other part is in the eye and execution. But the adventure is fun, and it's still nice enough that my friend will appreciate the effort.

The colors are all SU: pumpkin pie, daffodil delight, and rose red. Both layers of the butterfly are punched from some Japanese paper scraps and is my favorite part of the whole card! The picture doesn't show it so much, but there are  orange fibers running through the top layer of the butterfly. My friend's name is gold Smooch over white paint pen. The butterfly antennae is the gold wire edging cut off of some holiday gift ribbon I received at some point. The stamps and designer paper are also both SU. The stamping doesn't look quite so "messy" in person as it unfortunately appears in the photo.

It fits several current challenges:
Whimsy Stamps Things With Wings
The Cat's Pajamas Color Challenge
Sketch Challenge

Hopefully in the future (when I next have a stamping slush fund) I'll be able to use actual Whimsy  and/or TCP Stamps. Until then, since I'm using their challenges as inspiration, I can at least give them a shoutout.