A Bit of Trick or Treat Piecing!

Aloha, all!

     After I presented a September class focused on making some cards that mimicked some pieced quilt designs, I decided to try to try some cards with a different take on paper piecing.  I'm still not just where I want to be in understanding how to get the effect that I want.  But I finally am feeling that I'm almost there – maybe just one more try before I'm at the point where I can actually write a tutorial and present a class.  Yay!

     For my latest try at my idea, I used the Stampin' Up! Ovals Collection Sizzix Framelits.  Using the Ovals was an idea I got yesterday by participating in an online chat that challenged us to use circles or ovals on a card.  And here I had been focusing my ideas on trying to use squares or rectangles.  What a great idea to get away from the straight lines in favor of a few curves!

     Since Halloween is this week, I chose the Halloween paper set, Witches Brew DSP.  The colors in the four sheets of paper that I used are Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Starfruit and Very Vanilla.  For the background, I focused on the Black, Pumpkin and Vanilla colors.  I think that the Starfruit color is a nice accent for the center of the card; but no matter how I tried to use it, it detracted from the rest of the background.

     As you might imagine from the layout, this card is wider than a standard card.  In fact, the card is 5-1/2" square, making the top layer on which I placed the oval 5" square.  This is just a bit too wide for the Square Lattice Embossing Folder that I wanted to use to cover the whole layer.  I was going to try to overlap the textured pattern, but then tried just embossing the center of the layer to see what would happen.  What happened is that I ended up with a nice border on the left and right, just perfect for adding a bit of a Pumpkin Pie 1/8" Satin Ribbon accent.  I also used a small piece of the same ribbon on the Basic Black Button in the center of the small oval.

     To finish off the card with a greeting, I used one of the stamps from the set, Best of Halloween, stamped in Black on Vanilla and punched with the Modern Label Punch.

     As you may have noticed, I used my Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker to outline all of the cut lines in the oval element.  I'm not sure I like that effect and hope to get some feedback from some of my stamping friends about it.  Just one more little thing to decided before I write that tutorial!

     For now, though, I have at least one more Halloween Card I want to make – and not many days left to get it done so I can give it to one of my friends!  I've had quite a bit of fun with the Halloween cards this year, and hope you are having fun with whatever you're doing, too!

 

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