Kristin Moore challenged everyone to take their first card they uploaded and make it over to show how far we have come. My first batch of uploads was in October 2006, and the original card isn't exactly bad, but is rather blah, color-wise. Here it is Letters from Friends set by LateBlossom at Splitcoaststampers
I decided it needed a better color combination, so I kept the saffron for the shadow-stamp behind the sentiment, but added eggplant, which has much more contrast and presence than the close to cocoa of the original. I also put it on white cardstock and a white base, which adds drama, I think. A bit of bling (which I never used early on) and a scrap of ribbon, which makes it qualify for the CAS12 challenge, and voila! I like this version much, much better!