Fabulous Florets... in DIGITAL!

This week's Pals Paper Arts Challenge was a sketch challenge. I love sketch challenges, they're probably my faves. But... I've sprained my left wrist (or something). All I know is it hurts and I'm trying to finish my daughter's end of year teacher gifts so I did my card digitally today :)  For the color scheme and stamp choice, I took inspiration from another card I made - the flowers are all blooming around here and I just felt like sharing that through my cards! Scroll down to see more on this other card :)

Little hints:

*If you love digital but don't want to invest in all the stamp brush sets, consider downloading some of the Designer Kits, such as the Playful Polka Dots kit. They're like Simply Scrappin' Kits but in digi format!  They have DSPs, borders, labels and 'sticker' elements (like the flowers above). They're an economical way to enjoy digital!
*Love the butterfly? I filled it in with the orange polka dot DSP from the Playful Polka Dots kit. Did you know you can change the 'size' of the DSP within the 'punched' elements?  You can make the polka dots bigger or smaller, whatever suits your card/page.
*Love Stampin' Dimensionals like I do? I added a shadow to the butterfly to make it look like it's on dimensionals. There isn't much you can't do with My Digital Studio!

I've also decided to participate in Gallery Idol this year, a contest put on by Paper Crafts Magazine. This year's theme is 'Congratulations cards'. The prizes are pretty amazing - first prize is a CRUISE! - and I thought I'd give it a shot!

Little hints:
*Love the DSP? It's the Botanical Garden DSP which is in the Summer Mini as well as the new 2011/2012 IB&C!  It coordinates perfectly with the Fabulous Florets stamp set.
*See that Daffodil Delight Taffeta Ribbon? It's on the Last Chance List!  Get it before it's gone for good (June 30th).
*The Fabulous Florets stamp set is a perfect floral stamp set that you can layer the different flowers with.
*How did I get the card stock that 'congratulations!' is stamped on to coordinate so perfectly with the stamped images? I punched it right out of the stamped images and then stamped the greeting on top. I then layered it to match it up. Just be careful to stamp in the right orientation and not make a mistake since you only really have one shot at it (other than restamping the whole piece of card stock). I saw this technique in a card swap I did and LOVE IT!!!

I hope all these flowers have brightened your day a bit and maybe even inspired you to try something new!  Keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!