I loves me some Paper Poppy!

So this kit was beautiful. It was jam-packed. It had a lot of variety. It had a gorgeous, vibrant colour palette.

But guess what? It's not a palette I'm used to. So of course, when I started playing with it, I was stumped. Crud. I waited ever so (im)patiently for this kit to get here. What do I do now?

So I dug through my old photos looking for colour inspiration. I knew that somewhere, I must have some photos that would be worthy of this bright and cheerful paper. I mean, I figured out how to mix lavender eye shadow with blue mascara in grade seven. Surely, I can make this work.

Plus, I only needed one photo since I planned to adapt this March challenge sketch by Helen Croft at Scrap A Little. It can't be that hard...right?

And then it occurred to me that maybe I've just not captured "cheer" on camera. "Hogwash, self," I replied. "I seldom go a day without cheer. Surely, I have caught it on film at some point or another."

Apparently, I said that to myself back in the 90s while I still used a 24mm.

But what made it worse was that the whole time I was putting 110% (or some other superlative sports metaphor) into finding a photo that would work, the palette was taunting me. "Make cards out of me," it goaded. "Beautiful, cheerful cards. Your niece and nephews will love me. Spread the love, Teri. There are enough yellow and red goodies here to make cards for 163 of your closest friends."

But, "No!" I said. "You will not win this fight, bright colour palette. You shall be defeated."

So I tied my cape around my neck. (That cape may or may not have been metaphorical. Either way, it paints a formidable picture). I huffed, and I puffed. I used my spidey-senses and ran faster than a speeding bullet. And guess what happened?I was victorious! Take that, bright colours!The title reads, "Summer is fun at 26". In fact, I love how this turned out. It really made me step out of my usual comfy box and try some new things. I even managed to work a couple of extra challenges into this one. Apparently, no challenge is too much for Captain Cheer.
These handmade flowers are my entry for the Paper Poppy's handmade flower challenge. I used the scallop-circle-punched book pages that were included in the kit, and I used my Stampin' Up chalks to add a some colour before folding up the edges a little and adding floss stems. The chalks and the little birdy rub-on in the centre of one of my flowers are also my entry for the Practical Scrappers' challenge to use something that's at least one year old.

But none of those things sounds befitting a victorious and powerful superhero, so I left them to the end of the post.

So, to the Paper Poppy Kit Co., thank you for introducing me to beautiful new colour combinations that I never would have tried on my own. This challenge has done wonders for my creativity.

Now if only you could help me out of this comfortable lavender-eye-shadow-and-bright-blue-mascara box I've been living in for the last fifteen years, I'd be much obliged.