do you love color challenges as much as i do??

i ask because there's a fabulous new one that's just gone live on the eyelet outlet blog and i think you'll enjoy it as much as i did. i mean, just look at the palette... gorgeous, no?

i was in the mood to paint a little seascape because i thought it'd be a pretty good use of these particular colors (irl, my ocean is greener, i swear!) AND i wanted to use some of my all-time favorite eyelet outlet brads (sea shore, shells, and shell corners) to frame it.

eyelet outlet goodies: shell brads, shell corner brads, sea shore brads, 8mm pearl brads, white paper flowers, gold glitter washi tape; cardstock: core'dinations; watercolor paper: strathmore; watercolor paints: artist's loft; ink: colorbox; vintage text paper from my stash; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape

i stand by that decision, on the grounds that it's a pretty cute card, plus it was totally fun to make. i didn't have blossoms that were quite the right shade of pink, so i watercolored a couple of white eyelet outlet flowers with a little bit of streaky soft pink from the palette. instant matchification! ;)

tell the truth: you're DYING to jump in on this gorgeous palette, right? why not hop on over to the eyelet outlet blog for all the details right now and be sure to leave my uber-talented teammates a little love whilst you're there, ok darlings? ♥

i'm so excited!

because i'm going to be on the eyelet outlet design team! my first official projects won't actually debut until later in march, but i've already got loads of ideas and i'm already having a lot of fun hanging out at the eyelet outlet blog. right now there's a pretty fab color challenge going on, and i was longing to play. just look at this gorgeous board, i dare you NOT to want to make a card using these colors!!! ♥

i was inspired by the full-on sparkle factor of that shoe, as well as the gorgeous palette, so i decided that it might translate into a pretty good mandala. i stand by that belief, actually:

pearl hearts, pink bling and red clear edge jewels: eyelet outlet; background created on strathmore watercolor paper with ken oliver's color burst in several shades of blue; mandala drawn using faber-castell pitt pen with XS nib; patterned paper: basic grey; white glossy cardstock: paper accents; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, sewing machine

i used a few different styles of gorgeous eyelet outlet bling*, including pearl hearts (which make excellent mandala petals, don't you think?!) red clear edge jewel bling, and some smaller gems that started out pink, which i slightly re-colored using a red copic marker, to fit better with the scheme.

i hope you'll check out the challenge post and that you'll have as much fun as i did making a magical (...and perhaps also sparkly?!) creation inspired by this bright and beautiful palette!

*i'm sure you know and love eyelet outlet eyelets and their fabulous brads, but did you know they also have tons of bling, awesome washi and even gorgeous florals? srsly... ya gotta check it out! ♥