Going Off Challenge Can Still be Inspiring

April Swingler
April Swingler

Supplies used are listed at the bottom of this post.
This month on the Scrap Happy Blog the Creative Team is finding inspiration through various challenges. There are challenges all over the internet and social media, they can be a GREAT place to find creative ideas. Scrap Happy has its foundation in LOAD the Layout A Day Challenge and also hosts Calvin Ball so thinking about challenges is a natural topic for us here at Scrap Happy.  I’ve created a Pinterest Board of various challenges for you. As I began creating this board I found that many sites blocked Pinterest from pinning so I have also created a list on my blog of various challenges. I suggest collecting challenges on a Pinterest Board of your own as a little creative shot in the arm whenever you are struggling for ideas. I also invite you to join the conversation around these posts on our Circle Commuity and tell us your own favorite challenges & see those other readers love. 

Many companies run challenges with prize give-aways but even if a challenge is over they can still be a great place to find a jumping off point for a project. Think about issuing yourself a challenge – how about creating something inspired by one of Alice’s Happy At Home videos.  Here is a link to the Happy At Home Playlist of all episodes of Happy At Home

I chose to create a card based on the colors in the Pinkfresh Studio April 2022 Challenge 

The challenge colors were Coral Reef, Passion Fruit, Slumber, Fresh Pear, and Soft Lilac. I didn’t have Fresh Pear so I substituted Catherine Pooler Wintergreen.
I created a floral cluster with these colors but I didn’t love it (I actually made a mistake and included Sparkling Rose which was not part of the challenge and that was why it didn’t work, but I didn’t realize that until later).   I decided to do what was going to make me happier and replaced the coral shades with pinks. 

I ended up using Sparkling Rose, Bubble Gum, and Raspberry Bliss as my three shades of pink. I kept Slumber (blue), Soft Lilac, and used Catherine Pooler Wintergreen and Matcha as my greens.

In order to give my floral cluster continuity & visual interest I blended a bit of Slumber and Soft Lilac into the large pink flower.

For the leaves I blended Wintergreen and Matcha blending darker toward the base of the leaves then blending the lightest hint of slumber over all.

I also used slumber for the veins of the leaves knowing that they would turn green when layered over the solid green leaves.

After my ink blended panel had dried I used the coordinating stamp to stamp over top with Versamark ink and heat embossed with silver embossing powder and cut it out with the coordinating die.

I had a folded card which had an embossed texture because I had used it as a shim when cutting a card panel for another project. I ink blended the embossed card with inks from my project. I layered the flowers over an ornate circle die cut. I cut thank you from gold foil cardstock and glued it to two layers of white in order to make it sturdy. I fluffed the petals of the ornate circle and the leaves then layered them on foam tape for dimension.

Supplies Used

  • Pinkfresh Stuio Inks Sparkling Rose, Bubble Gum, Raspberry Bliss, Slumber and Soft Lilac
  • Catherine Pooler Inks Wintergreen and Matcha
  • Blender Brushes by Gina K, Concord & 9th &, Picket Fence Studio
  • Gold Mirror Paper from Michael’s
  •  Stampin’ Dimensionals and Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals by Stampin’ Up!
  • Versamark Ink Pad
  • Silver Embossing Powder
  • Stamparatus Stamping Platform by Stampin’ Up!

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