I Give Up

This is the third Wednesday of February, which means it is the day that Kelly, Barb, and I reveal our Ready, Set, Go cards. 

Not sure what Ready, Set, Go is? Well, it's a lot of fun! And a bit of creativity. And an extreme challenge theme.

Ready, Set, Go is an idea that Kelly came up with and she invited Barb and I to join her on the adventure. We take turns choosing the theme (this month it's Barb's turn), but the idea is for it to be a bit more challenging than just the average theme.

This is Barb's theme...

Our posting date is February 17^th, the first day of lent in 2021 and National RAK Day.  During Lent, many people traditionally give up items—chocolate, coffee, alcohol, etc.  Me—I kiddingly say I give up Lobster and drinking water from the outside water spigot-ha!  So, for our challenge in February, you need to “give up” an item you almost always use or have on a card.  Do you usually color with Copics—not this month.  How about patterned paper for a background layer—not this time.  So—you need to give up something on your card.  Then, you are being asked to send  your card as a RAK—a card to a random person in your life who would not be expecting it.   Please pick someone who has not gotten a card from you in the past that is deserving of happy mail.  Maybe a not-so-close-to-you family member from afar you are thinking of.  Or, an acquaintance on SCS or another forum that comment on your cards often and you happen to have their address.  Put a smile on the face of someone you do not know very well.  Make the RAK count!  Ready. Set?  Go!

I really liked the idea of giving something up on these cards and knew immediately that I would not be using any embellishments. That is a trend I've been noticing on cards of some of my favorite crafters and I really like it so I wanted to give it a try myself.

It took a little longer to decide who I would make a card for, but not too much longer. I won't say too much here - because I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise and someone might tell her, but I've mailed this card with a handwritten note inside to a woman I admire greatly. She's actually the wife of someone that I work with in my volunteer role at our state convention. I've never sent her a card before and appreciate the nudge that Barb gave me to send her one now.

I started by making a masking stencil by tearing a ragged oval in the center of a piece of scrap paper.

I placed it over a piece of white cardstock and stamped the Altenew Dotted Diamond background stamp onto it with Stampin' UP! Crumb Cake ink. Then I used a blending brush to lightly blend Crumb Cake ink in the opening and then Stampin' UP! Sahara Sand around the edge to give it some definition.

I stamped, colored and die-cut the Neat & Tangled Grateful Heart Flowers and used pop dots to lift the image up off of the card. I did the same with the sentiment.

*Gasp! There are no embellishments... but a challenge is a challenge is a Ready, Set, Go! challenge. 

I hope Kelly and Barb like my card. Be sure to check out Barb's blog and Kelly's blog to see what they did with this Ready Set Go theme!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamp/Die Sets: Altenew Dotted Diamonds stamped with SU Crumb Cake Ink and Neat & Tangled Grateful Heart stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Papers: Cougar 110# White and SU Sahara Sand CS

Die/Punch: MFT Stitched Mod Rectangle Die and SU Banner Punch