It's your day to sparkle- Where Creativity Meets C9 Debut Challenge!

Hello, friends! Today is the inaugural challenge for the brand-spankin-new-and-fabulous Where Creativity Meets C9 Challenge Blog! The rest of the DT and myself have prepared some totally lovely projects to inspire your creations, so let's get started!

The challenge this month is:

 And what could be more celebratory (or delicious) than cake?? I have to admit, my mouth may have been watering a bit after I painted this chocolate cake.... Yum yum! This image looks so luscious in any and all color combinations..... aaaaaand now I want cake. 

To start, I heat embossed that stunning cake from Concord and 9th's Happy Day on my favorite Montval watercolor paper using white detail embossing powder. I then colored it using a combination of deep, luscious jewel tones and a very yummy, chocolate-y looking brown Zig marker. I used my trusty Silver paintbrush to pull the color out and add some shading. The cake plate was colored first with a solid metallic gold marker from my stash, then "glazed" with a gold Wink of Stella marker to add some pretty sparkle. I die cut it with the coordinating cake die and went on to the next step. 

The background is another of my "smooshed" backgrounds, thought it doesn't really look like it. I used three teal/blue Distress Inks, smooshed them on some acetate, spritzed them liberally with plain water and the Tsukineko pearlescent spray, then smooshed my watercolor paper on top, tilting and turning the panel until there were lots of nice color saturations and blobs (technical term) on the A2 panel. I let it dry overnight, then heat embossed my greeting from Happy Day on the super shimmery panel using white detail embossing powder. The little sparkles were added with some blue glitter Wow embossing powder after I had decided my cake and sentiment placement. 

The step was to create the shaker part of the card. I used stitched rectangle dies from The Ton to create my shaker frame, then filled up my shaker with a variety of sequins and seed beads in coordinating colors to make it particularly festive and appropriately "sparkly"! I don't know about you, but whenever I am celebrating something, the more sparkles the better! (This includes any and all jewelry. And my birthday is coming up. Hint, Hint, Husband o'Mine.)

I hope that the incredible projects from myself and the rest of the Design Team have inspired you to take on this super fun challenge yourself! You have plenty of time... The challenge runs through September 29 (which also happens to be my birthday. So many reasons to celebrate! Haha!), so get to work, ladies and gents! 

As though you needed more incentive, the generous folks at Concord and 9th have donated a $25 gift certificate to their store for the winner! The best entry will also be offered a guest designer position, so be sure to pull out all of your creative stops!

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