Seize the Rainbows!

It's time for another Seize the Birthday Thursday! Our optional (but fun!) topping for our new challenge is RAINBOW. (Rainbow has seven letters, there are seven colours. Coincidence? I think not.) 

I made two cards for the challenge:

I wasn't entirely sure I liked the first background I made (on the right), so made another and finished that card first. 

For the background, I made stencils by tracing the arcs onto notepaper using a curved ruler and hand-cutting them. I wanted more than one so I wouldn't muddy the colours as I applied them. I die cut the panel then added the floral silhouettes, embossing them in sparkly black embossing powder. The sentiment is also embossed. With my rainbow panel, I'm entering this in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge... to make your own background. 

Once I'd finished that card, I decided that my first background rainbow wasn't so bad after all, and turned it into this: 

Initially, I wasn't sure I liked the extra pink at the top and the blank space at the bottom. But by balancing the top with a matching sentiment on the white, I think it works. A matching pink mat and a few clear drops add a little bit more interest. Rainbows and pink - I think I'll add this to the current AAA Birthday challenge, For the Girls.  

You can of course find a full spectrum of ideas from the Seize the Birthday design team as well as our current surprise party guest, Sue. Check them out, and then I hope you will join us! 

Supplies: (happy birthday) Neenah white & Recollections black cardstock, Paper Smooches Botanicals 1 & MFT Bitty Bears stamps, Versafine onyx black & barn door, carved pumpkin, squeezed lemonade, mowed lawn, blueprint sketch, shaded lilac & milled lavender distress inks, Ranger black sparkle embossing powder, MFT stitched rounded rectangle & Blueprints 29 dies; (someone special) Neenah white & Stampin' Up melon mambo cardstock, Sugar Pea Designs Feeling Sentimental stamp, Versamark & picked raspberry, carved pumpkin, squeezed lemonade, mowed lawn, blueprint sketch, seedless preserves & milled lavender distress inks, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway die, Studio Katia year drops