Just Peachy - PDCC32

There are challenges and then there are real challenges where you really rack your brain as to how to make a card with the given parameters.  Well this was one that really threw me for a loop.  It's the Play Day Cafe Challenge 32 where the colors are Lemon, Light Peach and Peach. 

 I would probably never put these colors together if it weren't for this challenge.  But now that I see the card in photos the colors look pretty good together - it belies the effort I put in to make it work for the PDCC!

To start I used Papertrey Ink's Lemon Tart and Melon Berry and Stampin' Up's Blush Blossom card stock.  I also looked through my stash of DP and found a half sheet of the SU DP that I used.  It's retired paper and I have no idea what the pattern name is but it happened to work perfectly to tie in the peach colors.

I had the idea that the colors might look good as gradient colors in the background of something - kind of like a summer sunset would look.  So that was my inspiration to kick it off.  To achieve that look, I decided to use my new dotted postage stamp image from Just For Fun rubber stamps. 

 I have several of these collage type stamps but I chose the "honeycomb" one since it was in harmony with the background DP that I picked.  I used inks that matched the cardstock and brushed them on with a stipple brush, starting with the Lemon Tart and ending with the Melon Berry, until it looked like a sunset.  The Just For Fun stamps like this come with a vinyl template that perfectly fits over the dotted lines which explains how you get the white borders.

With the background complete, I used a bit of Mellow Moss ink with a french  script stamp (also from Just For Fun) and ever so lightly stamped it in the background of each opening.  Then I used Stampin' Up's "Inspired by Nature" stamp set in Chocolate Brown to stamp the coneflowers - a couple of them were stamped off first for some variation.  When complete, I cut out the image using my Fiskars postage stamp decorative scissors.  The image and the background DP were distressed using tim Holz Tea Dye distress ink.  I added some half pearls in yellow and Lemon Tart grosgrain ribbon.  The words in the bottom right corner are from SU's "Great Friend" stamp set and stamped in Chocolate Brown ink.

Though I wouldn't have put these colors together on my own, this was a great challenge and I really like how the colors work together.  I just might have to try this again!  Let me know what you think...

Thanks for stopping by my blog....why don't you visit the Play Date Cafe Challenge site by clicking on the link here!