Aloha, all!
Have I ever mentioned how easy it is for me to get distracted? If you've ever read one of those stories that starts with, "I went into the kitchen to put a dish away, and then I saw a book that I'd left on the counter so I took it into the den to put away, but on the way I saw…." That would be me!
So yesterday as I was going through some of my favorite online forums to try to get some ideas about how to use colors and shapes simply, I came across a challenge, one part of which focused on a sketch. I just LOVED that sketch. So not only did I totally forget about simplicity, I even forgot the actual purpose of the original challenge. I just kept getting more and more distracted by a bunch of new "stuff" that had arrived in my craft room via FedEx from Stampin' Up ! earlier in the week. The good news is that I think I ended up with a really nice card AND I think I even found a challenge in the same online group for which I can use the card!
I have to tell you that I did really well in following the sketch! The group is a somewhat restricted group, so I'm not sure I can share the sketch with you. But I can certainly share my card, and tell you a bit about how I got here.
To begin the original challenge was to make a card that is monochromatic with the idea to begin with white (or vanilla) and progress into a light color and then a darker shade of the same basic color. I began with Whisper White, a pink and a darker pink, using the Petite Flower Punch. But I also wanted to use some Designer Series Paper as part of my background for the card. I have a list of all the colors that are in our Designer Series Paper sets, in order by colors, so I went looking for the pink I'd chosen – Blushing Bride. That color appears in two Designer Series Paper sets. But before I slipped the list back into its spot on my desk, my eye happened to see just below it the color, Calypso Coral – and that this color was in the fun new Specialty Series Designer Series Paper, Gold Soiree. Not only that, just below that on the list was Crisp Cantaloupe in the SAME Designer Series Paper Set. Ooooh. Suddenly these became my colors. That was fine until I decided to make use of the scalloped designs on one of the sheet in the Designer Series Paper set as the bottom part of my card. After that, the whole monochromatic part of the challenge fell apart.
Of course, I didn't mind – I was having fun with all those colors in the paper! I found Garden Green and Pistachio Pudding, and those went so well with the Coral and Cantaloupe flowers that I'd punched with the Petite Petals Punch that I had to use them in the design! I die-cut the leaves using Pistachio Pudding Cardstock with the brand new Flower Frenzy Bigz Die. For the background for the flowers and leaves, I cut a square of Garden Green Cardstock and then started playing around with a piece of a Gold Foil Sheet to make a mat for it. What I finally did was cut the top and left side with the largest of the Squares Collection Framelits. This one has a scalloped edge. Then I set the piece of gold foil back in the scalloped square framelit to cut the bottom of the piece of foil to make something of a small square to mat the Garden Green square.
I made a small greeting using some Whisper White Cardstock and a stamp from the And Many More Stamp Set using Calypso Coral Classic Ink.
After I layered everything up – including the top of the base layer which is the other side of the scalloped print paper from the Gold Soiree set – I added a bow made up of three different pieces of twine – Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding Thick Baker's Twine, and Gold Baker's Twine. Pretty bow, and I really like the way the gold accents the gold in the Foil Sheet and the Designer Series Paper. For the finishing touches, I added Candy Dots to the center of the flowers – Whisper White, Garden Green, and Calypso Coral.
With all that, I finally decided that this card meets another challenge by the same group to use Ribbons, Twine or Thread from the Stampin' Up! catalog. Hooray for that!
I had so much fun getting distracted and working with some fun Stampin' Up! products at the same time! But tomorrow I promise I'm going to get back to simplicity. Gotta get that eBook done!
