When life gives you lemons . . .

Wanna know a secret? Before today I really did not like the sketch that I came up with for yesterday's challenge. In fact, even as I was posting it I was wondering if anyone was going to make any cards, because the sketch was pretty much a lemon. I mean, a triangle with circles -- where did that come from? but guess what, not only did you make lemonade out of the lemon, more of you submitted cards for this challenge earlier in the week than ever before! Yay for you! And now that I finished my card, I'm even starting to like this sketch a bit, if for no other reason than that it's just so darn unusual.

But enough talk. Let's get to the cards. Steph was the first to post her challenge creation. It's so cute! She offset her circles, used dazzling diamonds on the sentiment, and added a hodge podge hardware clip for interest. Adorable! As always, please check out her creation on her blog and let her know how cute it is! Here is the link: http://sbarber77.blogspot.com/2007/05/double-duty.html

Rita also had time to play and posted her card on her blog. What I love about Rita's card is the clever use of the sentiment as the background. And the hearts from the petite patterns background set coordinate perfectly with the main image. Super job, Rita! Here is the link to Rita's card -- check it out and leave a comment: http://ritasstampart.blogspot.com/2007/05/sunday-morning-challenge_28.html

And we have a new player this week. Wende is a Stampin' Up! demonstrator in the Chicago area who attended the shoebox swap last week. She was checking out the pictures from the swap, ran across the challenge, and promptly e-mailed me photos of not one but two cards. The first card fits the challenge criteria exactly. The second is more of a variation on a theme, but still super cute. Here's what Wende said about this, in her own words:

"First I used the Possum with the "You're Sweet" sentiment along with the linen background stamp & followed your template exactly. It turned out cute but I wasn't in love with it so I gave it another go with the star stamp & changing up the template a bit; I really like how this card turned out. I used the striped background from the background sampler stamp set, a vintage brad, more mustard buttons (earth elements) and linen thread."

Well I absolutely love both cards! I really like how Wende tore the edge of her mat, used different sizes of circles and, like Rita, used her sentiment and main image as backgrounds stamps on her first card. And her layout modification on the second card is pretty brilliant. In fact, you might just see it in a future challenge! Fantastic job Wende! If you love her card too, leave her a comment here.

So by now you must be wondering if I made a card for this "lemon" of a challenge. Well, as a matter of fact I did, thought not until tonight. I apologize for the blurry photo -- it's the best I could do tonight.

As you can see, I pretty much stuck to the challenge criteria. I didn't even venture out of the mini-mates set for a background, since this set has so many cute images that could be used just for that purpose. My only "variation" was to use the designer label punch to punch through the ruby red mat so that I could stamp the sentiment on the more mustard base. I like this card, but looking at it now I can already think of a couple of very easy things I could add to make it even better. So tomorrow you might just see a new and improved version (assuming I have time to stamp after I get home from getting my haircut.)