Another birthday in the Hickson household...

Today was my husband's birthday! We're born the same year, so yes, I am five days OLDER than him. Luckily he's not the type to ever point that out. Perhaps he'll enjoy it a few years from now when I turn 40 before him! :-) So anyway, this is the card I made for him. I used the SU retired Summer by the Sea set. I bought that set specifically because I loved this image so much - it's so completely romantic and sweet. But when I looked at the set yesterday when making the card, I noticed there's also a little boy making a sand castle! I didn't have a little boy who makes sand castles when I bought it, so it never registered. I think I'll have to use that one if I ever get around to scrapping our Michigan trip, Carter was all about playing in the sand! Ok back to the card, I got sidetracked for a minute there...! :-) I've realized that using sketch challenges REALLY helps me put together a card faster, and better - figuring out a layout is always such a challenge for me! I'm more about the coloring than the actual designing I guess! So this time I tried Julee's sketch challenge! It was lots of fun! Julee has an awesome blog, I'm sure you've been there, but in case you haven't - check it out. She did the sketch challenge to celebrate 75k hits! Wowsers!! This time I tried a square card - I like venturing beyond the standard 4.25x5.5 sometimes! I used the new Outlaw DSP from SU - love it! The image was colored with watercolor crayons & my aquapainter, and I used watercolor paper. I really do love the watercolor paper - it took me a while to order it, it's rather pricey, but it feels so much nicer when watercoloring, IMHO. What else? CS is Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel & Really Rust. I finally used my fun spiral punch - I loved that punch as soon as I saw it and had to order it right away, but for some reason I never think to pull it out! The clippie and brads are from my aged copper hodgepodge kit. And the sentiment is from, of course, Fancy Flexible Phrases. Can ya tell I love that set? Thanks for stopping by, I think I finally have a little stamping mojo back, I hope anyway - so hopefully I'll keep this posting roll going!

ETA: Forgot to mention, I turned Julee's sketch on it's side! (which you'd quickly figure out if you look at Julee's sketch!) Hope she doesn't mind! Ok two sketch challenges in two days, and I couldn't manage to follow either of them as written! Turns out I'm a rebel - who knew?!?! :-)