Sketched Birthday --- PCCCS #102 -- Top Pick for Challenge

Have you ever had a stamp set that you bought and then, months later, still hadn't used?  For me that stamp set was the Sketched Birthday.  When I made birthday cards I turned to just about every other set rather than this one.  Why?  I really couldn't say.

All that changed today when I saw the Paper Craft Crew Challenge sketch.  For some reason it really appealed to me and immediately made me think of using this stamp set.  Here's their sketch challenge:

I really didn't want the Designer Paper that I used to take over the card.  I also had in my mind that I wanted to use Strawberry Slush as one of the colours for my card.  After rejecting all my Designer Paper, I suddenly thought of my 2013-2015 In-Color Designer Series Paper Stack.  The polka dot design was my instant choice.  

I planned to have the cake slice be strawberry mousse with chocolate icing so, of course, I chose to use Chocolate Chip as one of my colours.  Things were falling together quite nicely and I was on a roll.  For my base cardstock, I chose the Strawberry Slush and then followed that with a layer of Chocolate Chip.  Then I added a strip of the polka dot Strawberry Slush to the left side and a narrower strip of Whisper White to the right side.  

The banner at the top was easy because I wanted to use the party hat for that.  By colouring it Strawberry Slush and Daffodil Delight, it became a bright an cheery piece of interest.  For a bit of sparkle, I added three Strawberry Slush sequin stars.

I decided that I wanted balloons on the card as well since they were part of the stamp set and serendipitously the sketch was perfect for a trio of balloons just to the right of the main image.  Since I had added Daffodil Delight to the party hat, I also added it to my balloons.  I absolutely love the sentiment from the Yippee-Skippee stamp set and added it to one of the conversation bubbles.

Like I said, I wanted the cake to be strawberry mousse with chocolate icing.  With a Daffodil Delight plate and a striped Daffodil Delight and Strawberry Slush candle, I think it looks simply delicious.  

I had a lot of fun making the card.  I really didn't want any embossing or even spatter or shading on the Whisper White because I felt it would detract from the details of the card.  Sometimes less is more.  Now that I had a chance to introduce this stamp set to ink, I'm sure I'll be using it again soon.

For more cards created for this challenge, check out the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.