Special Thank You for a Special Teacher

My daughter Anna is finishing up Senior Kindergarten this year and she has been lucky enough to have the most fantastic teacher for the past two years. She is patient, caring and just plain fantastic. We truly couldn't have asked for better. Last year I gave her an alphabet collage (on the left) that she loved. We didn't know she'd have her again this year again and I knew I couldn't really top last year's gift (I gave her 10 handmade cards and garnet earrings straight from the Czech Republic). But I could make her a great card ;)

I used two challenges as the inspiration for my card:
1) The Paper Players challenged us to use Basic Grey, Lucky Limeade and Melon Mambo in our card.
2) Try Stampin' On a Tuesday (a NEW one for me!) gave us a great sketch to work with.

I was pretty happy with the final product and her teacher liked it too :) My daughter goes to an all French school so I used this non-SU! embossing folder that has 'Merci' in it.

Tips & Tricks:

*I colored the apple stamps from Fruits and Flowers with Stampin' Write Markers, cut them out and then re-stamped them with Basic Grey ink and cut out the center heart.
*The apples and hearts are both mounted on Stampin' Dimensionals to make sure that they pop out. I love how easy it is to add texture to cards with these little sticky pop-ups.
*To coordinate my button 'thread' with my card (and to add a bit of visual contrast in colors) I threaded a thin strip of card stock through the button. It really pops!
*I did stamp the whole apple, including the center heart, in Melon Mambo. I wanted that little bit of pink peeking out from under the grey ;)
*I've been in a bit of a Crystal Effects mode lately. I love the glossy look it gives my card elements. I've had the same bottle for almost four years now and used it for many many projects. Talk about good bang for your buck!

I'm glad Anna's teacher loved her card and hopefully this will inspire to make a special card for your child's fantastic teacher. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!