Saturday, February 13, 2010

To Be Loved


This week over at Our Creative Corner our awesome hostess, Linda Coughlin, gave us a challenge that - at least for me - lived up to its name. We are supposed to find something we've had for a long time but have never used, or haven't used in a good while. The challenge in this for me goes back to my efforts to mostly use Stampin' Up! products on my blog. I struggled with knowing what to do because I just don't have much SU stuff that's old at all, or old and unused. Once I gave myself permission to use some other products, this card came together very quickly.

The whole card started with the papers. I confess, I am a paper hoarder. I have SO much. I'm really trying to make use of what I have, but these Daisy D's papers were sitting around unloved, even though I always thought they were gorgeous. Since I love the fact that SU's products always coordinate, when I use other stuff I find myself figuring out tricky ways to get around not having an ink that matches as well as I'd like. In this case I used American Crafts chestnut embossing powder and Versamark. (The cardstock is by Bazzill.)

I also found some stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms that had been terribly neglected. I stamped the Sophisticated Swirl backgrounder directly onto one of the papers, then embossed it and used it for the background. The sentiment is a stamp that I had to have when I saw it - so why haven't I used it? It's a wonderful quote. I embossed it onto another of the patterned papers and then cut it out with Nestabilities. I created the layers behind the sentiment by cutting out a couple more of the same shape then cutting them apart and fitting them behind the sentiment.

Originally I thought I would stamp an image and maybe color with Copics, but I didn't even get that far. I realized that one of the papers had these gorgeous circles that would look stunning cut out. For the center I used a kiwi kiss button and some skinny satin ribbon that was in my stash. When I put the card together, I did something that I'm not sure I've ever tried before - putting the sentiment under another layer. I didn't plan it out that way - it's just the way the pieces fit together the best, but I love the result. It allows the circle to stand out but somehow features the sentiment at the same time. I decided not to add anything else to my card - and in this case I think that was exactly the right call!

I hope you will dig through your stuff and find something old that calls out to you for this challenge. I enjoyed doing it, once I figured out what I wanted to do! And don't forget to visit the OCC blog to check out what other wonderful creations our team came up with this week.

7 comments:

Silke Ledlow said...

Lori - your card is beautiful!!! Love the DP and the CHF Stamp you used!!!

Have a great weekend!!! Hugs ~S~

Wendy J. said...

This is beautiful, Lori! Beautiful paper and you put it all together so well!

LorettaL said...

Lori, I love your palette and layout! That set by CHF is one of my favourites.

Joycelyn Pelkey said...

BEAUTIFUL!!! These colors are stunning, Lori!! Another fabulous creation!!

Linda Coughlin, the funkie junkie said...

This is so beautiful, Lori. I love the blues and browns together - such a pleasing combination! That's a great background stamp you used - if you ever want to sell it because it's not SU, I'd be happy to take it off your hands - LOL!! I love the way you featured a pattern from the paper as your main image and underplayed the sentiment a bit. All in all, a terrific design!

scrappingnana said...

Gorgeous card. Love the colors and the CHF stamps you used.

Unknown said...

Fantastic card! It's so elegant! Great job on the challenge!!!