a Sketch Challenge & a Sneak Peek!

I woke up this "morning" at 3am... no idea why. It's not like I'm not tired! After tossing and turning for an hour, I decided to get up and do a little blog surfing. Once I saw Connie and Mary's sketch challenge, my brain was fired up and ready to create.

I took Mary's suggestion and started with a 4-1/4" square card (closed), and cut the Early Espresso layer to 5-1/2" wide. So, this card will fit nicely into a Medium Envelope... yay!  :} 
There are lots of new goodies on this birthday card!!! I used two new stamp sets - Make a Cake and Memorable Moments. One of the advantages to using the clear-mount stamps, is that I can place two sentiments on the same block, which makes my stamping easier. In this case, I aligned the "happy" and the "birthday" next to each other on block H. I still used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to make sure I spaced them evenly.
Did you spot two new colors? My card base is the new Summer Starfruit, and I used a tiny strip of Primrose Petals card stock. If you look closely, you will also see a strip of the new Patio Party DSP.
I can't begin to tell you how much I LOVE the new pad inside the ink pads - they are AWESOME!! When you order your new stampin' goodies on June 1st, you have to try them. Since you will be ordering the new In Color Collection anyway, you will get your chance!  ;}
Well, I better slam a few more cups of coffee before my little one gets home from school... it's going to be a looooong day. Do you think I could convince him to take a nap with me???