Triple challenge, marker organization, black foam tape, & embossing technique

  I love both red and polka dots, so naturally I adore lady bugs.  My newest stamp set, Neat and Tangled "Fresh Blooms", has an adorable lady bug.  I was looking for inspiration and I shopped my stash for something old to use up.  I came across three fabric brads that I thought would be perfect to use with the little lady bug stamp.

  Then I went in search of a sketch to use my brads and I found it at Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge blog:

  Now all I needed were some papers with a red to coordinate with my brads.  I chose Echo Park "Yours Truly" papers and the black dot from Echo Park's "Chillingsworth Manor."  And then a red marker for the lady bug herself; I was scribbling each red I own and then a thought occurred to me, "grab a scrap of white card stock and scribble the colors to match for future projects."  Why didn't I think of this before?  No more scribbling my Birthday Doodles or Yankee Doodles Promarker sets to match colors:

  This week at Shopping Our Stash the challenge is Emboss it!  And the challenge at Young Crafters Unite (sponsored by Neat and Tangled) is to use a technique you've recently learned.

  Last week I learned (via Jennifer McGuire) to dry emboss dark card stock and lightly apply white pigment ink to the embossed paper, then heat set.  I dry embossed with Cuttlebug "Victoria" embossing folder.  I stamped my lady bug twice, then added glossy accents to the one i wanted to pop up on foam tape.  While I was waiting for the glossy accents to dry, I was concerned that the white foam square might show...so I colored the edges with my black marker.  It worked!

  I love to use challenges to spark inspiration, and I need to create immediately while the inspiration is hot.  Sometimes when I wait I can't remember what I wanted to use or do with the inspiration :)

Happy Monday!