This is the week for our monthly Joint Blog Hop.  Be sure to stop by to check out what all the talented bloggers in this Hop have shared.  We have a sketch challenge AND a color challenge and can choose to participate in either one or both – I chose both!  Here is my card for this week:

And here are the sketch and color challenges for this week:

I used Gray Granite card stock for the card base and the plant buckets.  Love this new color Stampin’ Up! added to the Neutrals Collection!

To begin, I stamped the bucket outline images from the Seasoned With Kindness stamp set in Basic Gray ink on Gray Granite card stock, then added the stamped highlights to the buckets with Gray Granite ink.  I fussy-cut them with my Paper Snips.  Then I laid them on the panel of Very Vanilla card stock to determine the placement of the stamped plant images.

The plants from the Seasoned With Kindness stamp set were stamped with Pear Pizzazz ink.  I stamped the image for the plant in the center three times – the first one is full strength and then twice more without re-inking the stamp.  I stamped the flower image on either side with Pear Pizzazz ink and then twice more on a scrap of Very Vanilla with Fresh Fig ink, colored the bloom with the blender pen using ink from the lid of the stamp pad, fussy-cut the flowers and glued them over the top of the image stamped in green.  I also added color to the leaves of the flower using a blender pen and Pear Pizzazz ink.

I wrapped a length of Very Vanilla Baker’s Twine around the top of each bucket and tied a knot.  Then I shaped the buckets slightly using my fingers and attached a thin strip of foam cut from the edge of the Stampin’ Dimensionals pad in the center of each bucket, running from top to bottom, to adhere the buckets over the bottom of the plants.  I stamped a few little butterflies from the Enjoy Life stamp set in Bermuda Bay ink, stamped off once on a scrap first, then on the art piece.  I stamped the little tag from the Seasoned With Kindness stamp set on a piece of Very Vanilla card stock in Bermuda Bay ink (stamped off once) and fussy-cut it before adhering it to the bucket with a dab of glue.

I stamped the image of the vines from the Botanical Bliss stamp set in Pear Pizzazz ink on a panel of Pear Pizzazz card stock.  Then I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue to adhere the art piece to the Pear Pizzazz panel and again to adhere that to a Fresh Fig mat.  The completed layer is adhered to the card front with Dimensionals.  Then I wrapped a length of Very Vanilla Baker’s Twine around the top edge of the card front and tied a bow.

The inside of the card has a few more of the little Bermuda Bay butterflies, a flower stamped and colored in the same manner as the two on the card front and a sentiment from the Seasoned With Kindness stamp set stamped in Fresh Fig ink – all on a panel of Very Vanilla card stock.  The panel is then adhered to a Fresh Fig card stock mat before adhering it to the inside of the card base.

*** You can find a complete list of supplies for this project, including card stock cuts, at the very bottom of this post.

Alright, on with the hop!  Click the button below to hop over to see what Karen Finkle has created.

And just in case you get lost along the way, here is a list of the team members involved in the hop today:

1. Amy Koenders 
2. Shelagh Freemantle
3. Mary Deatherage
4. Kristi Gray
5. Jaimie Babarczy
6. Sue Prather – You are here!
7. Karen Finkle
8. Julie Johnston
9. Sandi MacIver
10. Kathie Zaban
11. Eva Dobilas

Stampin’ Up! products used to create this project: