Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge - Reader's Choice 4

A double post today! Please scroll down to the previous post to see my son Elliott's ocean birthday cake. Happy Birthday, sweet Elliott!

I wanted to get this posted today as well. For those of you who don't know, I stumbled upon a blog last December that changed my life. It was Kristina Werner's blog, and her Make a Card Monday and Finally Friday videos were so interesting and inspiring that I just had to try my hand at papercrafting too. I made a careful list of basic supplies and gave it to my hubby as my Christmas Wish List. Then I started this blog to document my journey. In other words, I wouldn't even be out here talking to you and sharing with you if it weren't for Kristina.

Kristina occasionally posts these color inspiration challenges, which I've always looked forward to viewing (and I've discovered some wonderful blogs as a direct result) but I've never felt confident enough in my abilities to join in. Well, last night I decided: Nothing risked, nothing gained. So here is me jumping in.


The first thing I did was to take the laptop upstairs to my office so that I could match the colors as closely as possible with the Copics in my supply. Next, I needed an image. I ended up picking this adorable Bentley Bear stamp that came in a free set with the June issue of Cardmaking and Papercrafting Magazine. It's not a magazine that's easy to find. It's published in the UK, but I have found it on occasion at JoAnn's, A.C. Moore, and Borders.


Once I decided this was going to be a play date with Mr. Bentley, I knew I was going to need some cloud paper. I searched through my scraps and found a perfectly-sized piece from American Crafts. I colored Mr. Bentley Bear using a wide assortment of Copics (E00 and YR21 for him, R20 for his ears and cheeks, a tiny dab of E25 for his nose, then B02 and B04, R24 and R27, Y11 and Y15, and Y38 and YR04 for the balloons.


I choose two coordinating papers from the Citronella Designer Mat Pad from K&Company, and adhered those to a white card base. The American Crafts clouds went over that, and Mr. Bentley got popped off with dimentionals.

I added a sentiment that in hindsight I wish I had trimmed around, but it wouldn't come back up without tearing the paper. It's a clear sticker that I've had lying around forever from back in the day when I tried altering tins. It's from Cloud 9 Designs. Oh well, live and learn, right?


And then for a final splash of color (okay, more like droplets) I stamped three butterflies from Hampton Arts with Colorbox Chalk Ink in warm red. I folded them in half so their wings would look more like they do in flight, and popped those off with dimentionals as well.

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed my card! If you'd like to take part in Kristina's challenge, please visit her amazing blog by clicking the link in my sidebar. You still have until noon tomorrow to enter.