I couldn't resist

Today was the opposite of last Tuesday - I wasn't planning on doing the color combo challenge today because I really should be working. Really. But of course I had to look at what the combo was - river rock, whisper white, and basic black. Ooh. Wow. Then I thought, no, I can skip it. Really. But then I went and looked at the gallery of cards people had already done and thought, nope, I can't skip it. I have to do this one! So here is my card. I had so much fun doing this one.

First I chose some river rock paper out of the Ginger Blossom collection. I had the idea to cut the paper panel in thirds today, just so it wouldn't look completely like yesterday's paper panels. It was a little tricky, though. Using the dots helped - I first cut it into what the finished size would be for a full panel (in this case, 4" x 5 1/4"). Then I counted the columns of dots and realized that eight columns for each strip would be just about the right width. So that worked out really well! I laid the strips down on the black panel before attaching to be sure I was getting them right where I wanted. The corners were punched with my ticket corner punch.

Next, the frame. I love how this turned out. These colors seemed to call out for a wedding card (check the gallery, you'll see a lot of them!) and I really love this new set called To Have and To Hold. I had the idea to stamp the couple inside an oval window and then frame it out. I stamped the couple in black and then using my blender pen, added some river rock to accent the lines and color in the flowers and bow tie. I stamped the allover flowers on the river rock and then cut my frame to size - but here's my Tip of the Day. Cut the frame first and then do the flowers. My random pattern didn't look right once the small frame was cut out. It looked much better once I turned the frame over and stamped the flowers again, turning the stamp as I went so that the flowers and swirls were evenly distributed. I punched the corners, used a larger oval punch for the couple and attached to the back of the frame with regular tape, layered it onto black, and added black vintage brads in the corners.

The sentiment and frame are stamped in black, with a little bit of river rock coloring inside the frame. I cut it out, layered on black and cut out again. Then I mounted the frame with dimensionals and the sentiment over top with foam tape, using a double layer on the right side so that it would pop up over the frame.

That upper right corner just didn't look done, so for the final touch I stamped the flower from One of a Kind and punched it out, then layered it onto the same flower just punched from black cardstock. I colored it with my blender pen and river rock ink, then put a little ribbon behind it and attached it all with another brad.

OK, now I have to work - really!!