Monkey 81 - Thanks/Friend + Sketch

Here's a pretty cute sketch that was featured on A La Card Monkey this week. Don't you just love the picture of the kitten and ducks?   I wasn't able to participate in time for my rendition to be posted. You know how it is, life gets in the way.  However I did make an entry and even though the challenge is closed I thought I'd share my take on the sketch with you. 

Before I do that,  I just want to take a moment and congratulate the winner and spotlighted Monkey Princesses who will all be guest designers for A La Card Monkey in weeks to come.  Marie received the prestigious "Monkey Princess" for her adorable little deer friendship card.  I think you'll agree it's just so stinking cute!  Congrats Marie! 

And way to go,  to all the other gals who participated; especially Luciana and Jennifer who were chosen as upcoming guest designers.  Jennifer actually made two cards which is awesome!  Make sure you stop by their blogs to congratulate them and check out their wonderful creations. 

And here is my "non-entry".  That'll teach me to procrastinate and do some unimportant stuff like housework and dishes.  Lol!

Because this sketch is about friendship and thanks, I thought what better stamp set to express this than Stampin' Up!s  "Friends Never Fade" (pg.107 Idea Book & Cataogue [IB&C]).  I love the floral shapes and sentiment in that set. 

This set of 4 stamps is so reasonable priced.  It comes in wood mount (118750 for $21.95) or clear mount (120618 for $16.95).  At $4.25 per stamp for clear mount, that's an awesome deal.   Although the Greenhouse Gala DSP I used is now retired this set also works well with the "Beyond the Garden" papers offered on page 185 of the IB&C.

I wanted a floral paper for my background layer and remembered I still had some Greenhouse Gala Designer Paper in my stash which matches this stamp set perfectly.  I loved the richness and colours in this DSP and it's really worked for me in past projects, so I thought why not.  Once I chose the DSP the ink colours and cardstock were a no-brainer.  That's one of the things I totally love about Stampin' Up! products, they all coordinate so beautifully! 

This picture shows a bit of the upper detail in the card where I've tied a bow with Whisper White Tafetta Ribbon and added three little sentiments stamped in Pear Pizzazz ink on Jewelry Punch tickets. The three cardstock colours I chose for this card are Whisper White, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizzazz.  

I'm not a big fan of large scallops so decided to use the Lacey Ribbon Border punch (pg. 211 IB&C) rather than a scallop on the card front.  I cut a 5 1/4 x 1 1/2" piece of Pear Pizazz cardstock to layer under the Lacey Ribbon border strip.  This adds a bit more definition .  Instead of using brads or flowers I picked three of the beautiful large size basic pearls and added them to the bottom of the Lacey strip. 

Finally, I layered up the sentiment "Friends Are Flowers that Never Fade" with Peach Parfait, Pear Pizazz and Whisper White cardstocks.  The sentiment which is stamped in Pear Pizazz is adhered with dimensionals to the Whisper White layer.  Building the layers up from the main cardstock colour to the sentiment seems to really make the words pop off the card.

As I mentioned earlier I love the floral stamps in the "Friends Never Fade" stampset and rather than add designer paper or cardstock detail to the inside of the card I chose to showcase the floral stamps and the sentiment on their own. 

To accomplish this I began by stamping the sentiment which is from a retired set called "Best Blossoms", in Whisper White ink, and then embossed and heat set it with Whisper White Embossing powder.  I did the same for the floral images.  By using white ink to reflect the negative image on the front of the card, I believe this makes the lines of the card flow better.  

Okay so even though I wasn't able to make the deadline for entering my Monkey 81 card into the  A La Card Monkey weekly challenge,  I still had fun showing it to you and hope you like it.  See you next time and hope you draw some inspiration from my card. .