Card Design: Delightful Inspiration February Challenge

It is time for me to post my card for the Delightful Inspiration, formerly known as Designed 2 Delight, progressive stamp of the month challenge.  In order to enter this challenge, you must either have received the latest image by having participated in the previous month or you can buy the stamp for the current month's challenge.  Everyone who enters and follows the rules is a winner because you automatically get the stamp for the next month's challenge.  Stop by the site and check out the rules for yourself.  While you are there, have a look around.  They have some really great images.  This is the card I'm entering for the February challenge.

I had someone tell me that it seems to take forever for my blog to load and I don't know if it is because the pictures are too large or if she just has a slow computer.  I never seem to have a problem myself; for me it always loads extremely fast.  Is there anyone else out there who consistently finds my blog really slow in loading compared to others of a similar nature????  So for a couple of posts I'm going to reduce the size of the images within the post and see if that makes any difference for her.  You can always click on each image to see them in much better detail if you find the size too small here.

Front of the card...

 A closer look at the front...

 

Here is the inside of the card...

Here are the card details, I hope I haven't forgotten anything...

General Notes:

• This card is making a trip to a different country so I hope it holds up well!

Digital Image:

• Don't these images look they belong together?  Well, actually they are two separate images.  The spring flower basket is the wonderful image that I got to play with this month from Delightful Inspiration.  The other image you may recognize from all the promoting I did for Fresh Brewed Design's new line up of spring images.  This is Sweet Bunny which you can find in the store HERE in the Spring collection.  To me it actually looks like Sweet Bunny is picking her flower from the spring flower basket.  I love that Spring Bunny is versatile enough that you can use her on a wide range of cards and not just for Easter.
• Spring Basket--Basket:  Y32, Y35.  Bow:  B00, B02.  Leaves:  YG63, YG67.  Flowers:  RV00, RV02, BV000, BV00, Y11, B00.  Butterflies:  BG10, BG15, BV00, BV02.
• Sweet Bunny:  Y11, Y13, Y15, G20, G24 (tulip); (dress & shoes); E000, E00, E02 (fur); R20 (cheeks); R20, R22 (ears & nose); B00 (eyes).
• Now, I'd love to take credit for the sky but I can't.  I'm tired of having my skies look so pathetic and until I learn how to do them properly, that is just how they are going to look.  So, this week I decided that I was going to see if there was a free digital paper out there that had a sky with some clouds.  I found a few that didn't really do what I wanted them to, and then I came across this awesome free pack of four beach scenes from Sky's the Limit Scraps.  She has some amazing freebies but it looks like she is no longer active on her blog since her last post is from 2011.  It is too bad because I would have loved to have put her in one of the showcases.  Anyways, I took one of the papers and cropped out everything but the sky.  Then I opened up the basket and used the magic lasso tool to cut it out of the white background and then did the same thing with Sweet Bunny.  I brought both of them over and placed them on the sky background.  Now there must be an easier way to change the transparency around an image.  I've a call into one of my readers who just talked about making the background of her image transparent so I'm hoping it will be easy enough that she can find the time to quickly guide me through it.
• I also tried a new technique with my colouring today.  Since there is such a difference between B00 and B02 and between RV00 and RV02, I find that sometimes it just is too bold going from one to the other.  Now I don't have a wide selection of markers to buy from up here in the great white north.  Okay, maybe I'm not that far up, poor Jennifer from My Cubby Crafts is a heck of a lot farther north in the Yukon than I am in northern Ontario BUT there is only one store up here that sells Copics and the colour choice is limited.  All that to say that I have to make do with what I've got so I need to blend better. This week I learned the palette transfer technique and it made such a difference. You can see how much more subtle the blending of the pinks and blues are in this card. It is all about learning in baby steps right?
• The grass was added in using a blend of watercolour pencils.

Digital Sentiment:

• Friends Make Life Blossom:  I just love this free sentiment I picked up awhile back from TLC Creations.  Actually, I have plans to use it on another card real soon.  It is a perfect fit to accompany this image.

Paper Products:

•  If you've been following along this week you'll recogonize all but one of these papers.  I used the same ones in my Digi Darla Challenge card on Monday.  If you want to know what they are click HERE and scroll down to 'Paper Products'.
• The only other papers used were the multi-hued creamy yellow cardstock and the white shimmery cardstock used as a shadow on the front.  Both are open stock from Michael's.

Ribbon:

• Craft brand white ribbon--from Dollarama.

Embellishments:

•  Buttons from our stash.
  

Including Delightful Inspirations (link up top), these are the other challenges I hope to enter:

• Crafter's Digital Art Centre --  Anything Goes 
• Pin & Tack--Spark Your Creativity Now Challenge -- Challenge #7:  Anything Goes
• Word Art Wednesday -- Challenge #72:  Anything Goes
• 613 Avenue Create -- Anything Goes/Optional Twist
• QKR Stampede -- Challenge #30:  Dreaming of Spring
• Eureka Stamps  -- Challenge #31: What is in your Easter basket?
• {Pin}spirational Challenges -- Challenge #49
• Digi Haven -- Easter Challenge

Thank you so much for stopping by.  As I've now added to my comment section, whether you are a regular, here for the first time or popping over in your official capacity as a DT member, please know how much I appreciate the words that you leave behind.  Your encouragement helps me to become a better designer.   I try my best to reply to your comments (when an email address is available) but that is getting more and more difficult as my plate fills up with new responsibilities, new roles, and new obligations.  If I don't get the opportunity to thank you personally, know that I don't take a single comment for granted. Thank you for your understanding.

Until next time,