Two-Tone Flourishes

I'm really loving the Flowering Flourishes stamp set. It's so versatile and is great as both a background stamp *and* a stamp for the focal point on a card. The stamp set has three flourishes, a large one, a medium-sized one as well as a small one. I used the medium one on my card.

I used two challenges for my inspiration today. The first was the Dynamic Duos Color Challenge. This week's colors were Crumb Cake and 'Our Choice'. Usually I'd turn to Marina Mist or Rich Razzleberry. But I decided to shake things up this week and use my new fave color, Raspberry Ripple. It's not quite pink, it's not quite red, it's raspberry. It's a very rich color and I love it!

The second challenge I used was the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge. We had a nice, simple, clean sketch to work with this week. And guess what? I pretty much followed it to a tee! I even kept the orientation in the sketch! How often does that happen with me? ;)

Tips & Tricks:

*I just LOVE how rich, solid and bright my images come out when I use the new Firm Foam Ink Pads. No patchiness.
*The sketch I was using for inspiration had a thick band across the width of the card. We don't have the 1-1/4" ribbon anymore and I really wanted to use ribbon ;) So I created my own. I layered two strips of Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon and then ran the Stitched Satin Raspberry Ripple Ribbon across the middle.
*I think the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder is my new favorite. Horizontal, vertical, it looks good in either orientation!
*I know the sketch didn't have the button (or any other element) on it on the ribbon. But I liked the way it looked with it. It was the only thing I changed about the sketch ;)
*Something was missing. I finished the card and I just didn't the way it looked. So I added a few Basic Pearls to the flourishes. Voila - card finished!

This is a great simple, blank note. Perfect for birthday, thank you or 'just because'. Hope you enjoyed my tips today. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!