Happy Birthday - the Freshly Made Sketches way!

Here is a card I made for a dear friend's birthday using her favorite color green and a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches weekly challenge

It is a bold combination of Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade and Gumball Green but it would be so easy to change to any color combo and give you a chance to use some of all of those scraps that I am sure you have laying around. Personally I can't wait to make a Christmas Card using this sketch and the brand new Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack with the Greetings of the Season stamp set...but that is a card for another post

 Here is the original sketch

My finished card size is 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" - so it can still easily fit in to a regular size envelop. For my background strips I used the Gumball Green Core'dination Cardstock embossed with the Lacy Brocade Embossing folder and the Big Shot. The cardstock is then sanded with the Stampin' Sanding Block and all the fuzz is wiped off with the Core'dination Dust Buddy. I love how the sanded parts of the Core'dination cardstock matches the Lucky Limeade background. The Melon Mambo strips are from the Floral District Designer Series Paper pack. My strips are all glued down "not exactly straight" as I wanted to break up all the straight lines I had going on on this card.My friend is also a big fan of polkadots so of course I had to add a little snippet of the Melon Mambo Scalloped Polka dotted ribbon for added texture.

My Happy Birthday from the You're Amazing stamp set is colored in with markers then cut out with the Apothecary Accents Framelits. For added interest I used the coordinating Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack to add the pierced frame and what card for a girlfriend doesn't need a little bling in the shape of two big Rhinestones..

I hope you enjoyed today's card please leave a comment and let me know what you think ...and if you can I invite you to play along on the sketch challenge. It is so much fun and help me think outside the box...eh ...card square if you know what I mean.. Happy Stampin'!