Inspiration Challenge #47: L.L.Bean throw pillows

I saw these pillows on the back of an L.L.Bean catalog and just loved them. I'm really digging springy colors right now - maybe because I'm sick to death of winter! (They also have a lobster, crab, and starfish - I didn't include those here because, well, I wasn't sure they would be inspiring for a card, LOL. But if they are, go crazy!)

My favorite pillow is the Garden Vine - the blue one. I love the crispness of the pale blue against the clean white background. For my colors I chose always artichoke, mellow moss, brocade blue and bordering blue, with lots of white. I used the sketch challenge for my layout, although I flipped it so I could use the flower from Live Your Dream. A year after it came out and it's still one of my favorite stamps.

I started by coloring the stamp with markers. I used the side of the brocade blue marker's brush tip to "rock 'n roll" on the flowers, and did the same with the artichoke marker on the leaves. To imitate the green piping on the pillow, I used moss cardstock for all my layers. The background panels are white cardstock run through the Big Shot with the tiny dot texturz plate, bordering blue with a strip of white organdy polka dot ribbon, and white with one edge run through the Big Shot with one of the Nestabilities Victorian border Piercerabilities and pierced according to the die template. I added the bow after assembling all the layers together, and I added some more piercing to tie things together.

I tried a few different sentiments but this is what I settled on. I colored the "many thanks" stamp from Lots of Thoughts with the bordering blue marker and again edged the letters with brocade blue - I'm not sure this came through too well, but I tried. I pierced the scallop circle to go along with the rest of the piercing.

Whew, this card took a lot of time - but I think it was worth it, even though I probably should have been doing other things this morning. Oh well! Come and play along with the challenge this week - your SCS keyword is DSIC47, and be sure you leave a comment here with a link to your card! Thanks for visiting today!