Welcome to this month’s installment of the Stamper’s Dozen Blog Hop.  You are currently visiting Joanne Cantrell in a small town at the very bottom of Illinois smack dab in the middle of the United States!

Our theme this month is a color challenge. We had to incorporate Merry Merlot, Powder Pink, and Silver foil into our projects. These types of challenges really stress me out.  But, I think I did it!

Here are the two cards I came up with..

I will start by showing you the one on the right.

Here I used the Merry Merlot as the base and set that Powder Pink right up against is.  I love the contrast between the two.  I used the new Tin Tile embossing folder to give a little interest to the Silver foil.  The flowers are from Petal Palette stamp set and stamped in Merry Merlot. 

I used a Blender Pen with Powder Pink ink to color the flowers and Pear Pizzazz to color the leaves.  I love how is gives a faux water color look.  Then, I topped it off with the Powder Pink Shimmer Ribbon to help pull it all together.  I added one my of favorite sentiments in Merry Merlot.  It is found in the All Things Thanks stamp set. I know it’s a bit early, but wouldn’t this make a great Mother’s Day card!

I will admit, the above card was one of those ones that I was not happy with I created it.  It felt like I was just stretching to make the colors work for the challenge.  So, I created the one below and loved it instantly.  But, as with most of the cards I create and don’t like, I look at it again a couple days later and absolutely loved it.  I encourage you… when you make a project that you don’t really like – and I know we have all created those… take a step back from it.  Set it aside for a few hours or a couple days even.  Then, when you re visit it, two things will happen… you will see what it is missing or you will fall in love with it. 

Here’s the other card.

Again, I used Merry Merlot as the base.  For the large layer, I embossed Merry Merlot using the Softly Falling embossing folder and “flicked” the edge using a piece of a Stampin’ Sponge with Merry Merlot ink.  IT gives a little bit of interest to the outline of that layer – so it doesn’t get lost in the card base.  I used the same technique on the large circle cut from the Stitched Shapes framelits set. 

The Silver Foil dragonfly just pops against it, don’t you think!  A strip on Powder Pink layered over a strip of Silver Foil helps make the sentiment pop.  That Happy Birthday is from the Balloon Celebration stamp set and is stamped in Merry Merlot.  And, of course, I had to add a little bling with the Rhinestones!

I hope you have enjoyed my offerings for you today.  Now, it’s time to say goodbye so you can keep on hopping…

Stamper’s Dozen November 2018 Blog Hop

1. Patty Chenail – Stamping In My Flops
2. Bonnie O’Neill – Bonnie Stamped
3. Joanne Cantrell – Keep It Simple, Stampers
4. Debbie Naylor – Unfrogettable Stamping
5. Jodi Reinert – Stamp with Jodi
6. Judy Garza – Creativity Released
7. Kelly Acheson – A Stamp Above
8. Carol Payne – Carol Payne Stamps
9. Sharon Hashimoto Burkert – As the Ink Dries
10. Laura Milligan – I’d Rather “Bee” Stampin’
11. Rachel Yurkanin – Stamping with Rachel

Until next time… keep it simple, Stampers!

🙂  Joanne