This week's blog hop is all about Parakeet Party, one of the new In Colors in Stampin' Up!'s range.  Parakeet Party is a very bright lime green - I love it!

I have somewhat toned down the brightness of this colour by teaming it with a few neutrals - Basic White, Basic Black, and Basic Gray.  I designed this card with a masculine look in mind, but really it would suit anyone who likes a punch of colour.

The Basic White, and bordering Basic Black, sentiment panel was created using the Sports Event Dies,  I cut the largest ticket shape from Basic Black card, then cut the inner piece out with a smaller die, setting the Basic Black smaller piece aside for another use.  Using that smaller die, I cut a Basic White ticket, on which I stamped the sentiments from Framed Occasions.  I inlaid the smaller white ticket into the negative space in the larger black ticket.  

The strip of tiny tickets that forms a break between the two sentiments was cut from Parakeet Party striped Designer Series Paper.  I lightly sponged the edges with Parakeet Party ink, and adhered some Basic Gray stars.

The Basic Gray panel was cut using a Stitched Rectangle Die.  Using my Stamparatus, and Biggest Wish stamp set, I repeatedly stamped "Happy Birthday" in Basic Gray ink.  A very fine mat of Basic Black card forms a break between this piece and the bright background.

Tiny stars were die cut from Parakeet Party striped DSP, Parakeet Party Glimmer Paper, and Basic Gray card.  Adhesive Sheets, stuck on the back of the paper/card before cutting, made it easy to stick down the die-cut stars.  I added Parakeet Party Matte Decorative Dots to the corners of the Basic Gray stamped panel.

Hopefully you can see in this closer shot what I did to create the background on my card.  I started with a piece of Parakeet Party striped Designer Series Paper.  Using my Parakeet Party inkpad, I applied ink directly to the inside of the Painted Texture 3D embossing folder.  After inserting the DSP into the embossing folder, I ran it through my Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine.  The texture and ink added to the paper gave a really interesting effect.  I sponged the edges of the paper with Parakeet Party ink, before matting it on a layer of Basic Black card, and adhering the layers to a Thick Basic White card base.

To the inside of the card I added a few leftover die-cut bits, and added a sentiment again stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and Parakeet Party inks, using the Stamparatus.

Next up on tonight's blog hop is Michele Taylor.   If you click on the button below, you will be taken to her blog:

If you come across any broken links, or would like to see a comprehensive list of all the participants in this week's Colour Creations blog hop, head over to Catherine Proctor's blog.  Cathy does a fantastic job of co-ordinating our shares every week.

Listed below are all the products I used to make my card.  If you live in Australia, and would like to shop with me for your Stampin' Up! supplies, you can get to my online store by clicking on any of the thumbnail images below.