The Sky's the Limit

Hi everyone! Hope the week's off to a great start.

Today I'm sharing a card that was inspired by a MFT sketch challenge -- though my card wasn't finished in time to link up. Ever happen to you? Seems to happen to me more often than it should. LOL The good news, however, is that I'm right on time to link up to Shopping Our Stash's That's Sketchy Challenge.

When interpreting the sketch, I used:

• inset tone-on-tone clouds for the star, 
• an adorable hot air balloon for the square, and
• a sentiment for the rectangular strip.

My card was also inspired by the current Think Pink CAS-ual Fridays challenge. This is an annual challenge that honors all those wonderful ladies in our lives who have faced this challenge head on.

Recollections paddywhack dp; Stampin' Up cardstock
MFT Up in the Air images; Lawn Fawn Plane and Simple sentiment
images and sentiment stamped in Versamark black onyx ink
images colored with Prismacolor pencils
MFT Up in the Air, Paper Smooches stitched. Lawn Fawn min-snowflake dies; SU banner punch
adhesives: Scotch ATG; foam backing; Zig 2-way glue pen

I have to say I'm thrilled with this card... and so proud of this little balloon. It was stamped four times -- once on white paper and three times on different sheets of pattern paper. Next, I paper pieced the three patterns on top of the white paper. Then, I re-stamped the hot air balloon.

I went with a lighter blue for the sentiment strip and inset clouds so that the pink elements would really pop.

Speaking of popping, foam adhesive was used to attach the balloon and bird. A second layer of foam was used to pop the elephant.

And, speaking of the bird and elephant, I added touches of pink pencil accents to the bird's wing, cheek, and beak. To the elephant, I added touches of pink to the ears and cheeks and gray to the nose and feet.

I played with some crystal clear sequins, but chose to go with bright pink "snowflakes" that are the same color as the sentiment strip background paper. They seemed like a great way to tie together the sentiment strip with the bright pink dots in the balloon.

The sentiment is a message of hope. Since I'm crafting from my traveling stash, it's the closest thing I have with me to a "you've-got-this" message of encouragement.

Before any of the elements were attached, I decided to add a subtle frame around the card by die cutting stitched borders.

Parting Thoughts

Our autumn-themed Words 2 Craft By is open through next Wednesday... with a $10 gift certificate to the e-tailer of the winner's choice. Moreover, we're hoping to add a crafty friend or two to our DT. Details can be found here!

Have a great week! Thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!