Three, three & three – a Recipe at Forever Friends :)

Hello everyone!! :)

Wow- my first month as a member of the Forever Friends Challenge DT has gone by so quickly and it’s already time for another Monthly Challenge!! :) This time we have a recipe for you and we’d like you to use 3 Colours, 3 Papers & 3 Embellishments on your projects!! :) We’re sponsored this month by our very own Monthly DT member Ike who’s offering the lucky winner 3 digis from the great collection at her shop Ike's Art as well as a goody bag full of allsorts of crafty bits and pieces, too!! :) 

I had a total mental block on this card to begin with, as is often the case for me when attempting a challenge with a complicated sketch or larger list of required elements (just can’t keep it all straight in my little ol’ head, I think!!lol), and I don’t often attempt to use more than two patterned papers in one design but, after a little (okay, a lot of) thought, this is what I came up with...

I quite liked it when I'd finished it, despite it seeming quite busy compared with most of my cards and the fact that it’s nothing like I imagined at any stage of the proceedings, but actually, the more I look at it, the more I'm not sure... can't put my finger on the problem/s, though!! :S Ah, well!!lol All I knew at the beginning was that I wanted to make a card with one of my current fav Kraft blanks, pink and the paper I cut my large circle from- which typically you can now hardly see!!lol So, my three colours were sorted... then came finding two more papers to co-ordinate and coming up with a layout... think that took the longest of everything as I was determined to do something a bit out of my ordinary- hence the circles, the last of many rejected ideas!! :)

Unusually, the image came after the layout this time and this was one of the only two FF stamps I had small enough in the end, and it’s the first time I’ve used it- it’s actually from the Christmas range and I think the flowers are meant to be Hellebores/Christmas Roses and left white but it works perfectly well for any occasion, I feel, in different colours :) I used Promarkers to colour with some Clear Stardust and Stickles then added the words on the tag myself :)

The three embellishments kind of morphed from one thing to another as the card design came together-  I’d just received my first Ribbon Girl order with the gorgeous Tulip Pink Seam Binding so knew I’d be using that, but the hat pin just seemed to fit into the design quite nicely once I had the bow arranged, and the corners I found whilst looking for something else in my little box of bits cut from the spare space in any card I happen to be cutting on my Cricut... and I was really pleased I found them as I think they go far better than the butterfly I would likely have ended up adding otherwise!!lol 

Here’s ‘The List’...

• 5” Sq. Kraft card blank (mine are from Papermania)
• Forever Friends wooden stamp image, stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa
• Promarkers to colour: For the bear- Ivory all over to help the blending, Oatmeal for the shaded areas and Vanilla all over to blend together, then a few touches of Sunkissed Pink for cheeks and ears; for the present- Cinnamon, Cocoa & Henna, Baby Pink & Pale Pink; for the flowers- Baby Pink & Rose Pink, Buttercup & Primrose, Meadow Green & Leaf Green with a touch of Satin over the top (to tone the green down as it was a bit too bright!!); Satin under the bears feet
• Papers- FF For You pad (background), FF Party Time pad (circle), Kanban Garden Vistas pad, which came with a set of Kanban stamps from QVC (border strip)
• Plain paper coloured with baby pink PM for matting
• Nesties- Small and Large Circles
• Rich Cocoa to edge all layers
• MS Cherish Border Punch
• Sentiment for a LOTV stamp sheet
• Corners cut from brown card on my Cricut from a shape included in Scal software
• Pink Tulip Seam Binding
• Pearl Hat Pin
• Stickles in Diamond (flowers) and Platinum (corners)
• Sakura Clear Stardust pen
• Brown Fineliner for message on the tag

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: Dream Valley – Flowers :) ; Lexi’s Creations – Friendship (this will be being sent to a friend) :) ; Crafter’s Companion Monthly Challenge – Girl’s Birthday :) ; Papertake Weekly – Anything Goes :) ; Cupcake Craft - Something beinning with 'C' (my circles and the chocolate-y colours!!) :)

So, that’s what I concocted with our recipe please do pop over to the Forever Friends blog to see the other fab cards the rest of the Monthly DT have created to inspire you and, while you’re there, there’s also the Fortnightly challenge ‘Bows and Buttons’ running too- we’d love it if you’d join in... these gorgeous bears just don’t pop up often enough in blogland imo!! :)

Okay, mammoth post over- thank you for sticking with me!!- and I’m going for a lie down (despite writing most of this last night :S ) as I’m still not feeling too good atm- I will hopefully be back with a very brief post at some point before 8pm tomorrow, though, as I have my LIM card to share and I’m not going to be beaten in my aim to enter every week!!lol I hope you’re all well and have some sunshine to enjoy where ever you are!! :)