Oy vey! Was this a hard challenge! I nearly gave up several times, but I am so glad I persevered because I'm pleased with the final result. However, I think trying to photograph this card was as much trouble as trying to design it! That pointed square on the bottom kept the card tilted when standing by itself, so I had to come up with a way to keep it straight. I think I need to get one of those cheapy plate/picture stands for cards like this. For now I had it stuck with Dimensionals to a big square punch. You can see it a little underneath.
Where to start? I originally was going to try doing
this color challenge with
this sketch challenge. But I got this wild idea to sponge Rose Red and More Mustard on the Purely Pomegranate cs and liked it so much I canned the color challenge (for now).
But first I stamped both the
SU Print Pattern and the
SU Canvas background stamps in Rose Red ink on the Purely Pomegranate cs. I always love that stamp combo as a background. But I'm not sure how easily you can see it in the pic. Click on it to enlarge and then maybe you can see it...at least a little...maybe. Trust me, it's there.
I wanted to cuttlebug the background (of course) and went with the Diamonds in the Rough embossing folder. Then I sponged it with Rose Red and More Mustard. Wow! What a great color that came out! Kind of an orangy red. Looks really rich in person.
My squares go off the card, unlike in the challenge design. I couldn't see going with a really small square punch, as it would've limited what I could stamp in the squares. And although this card would be a challenge to get into an envelope, I still like the way parts stick out. After I was done with the card, I thought that had I realized before stamping the sentiment and gluing everything down that this card would've looked really cool standing on its short side I would've changed the sentiment around.
For all the green square backgrounds I sponged Old Olive ink along the edges of Certainly Celery cs. For the little squares I stamped scenes from a
SU Friendship's Journey stamp and 2
SU Botanicals stamps and a girl's face stamp from
Rubber Cottage on white cs. I sponged them with Rose Red and More Mustard to match the background. I mounted them with Dimensionals on the green and then on black.
For the big square I knew I wanted the rose from
SU Roses in Winter done in 3-D, so I stamped the biggest part of the rose 3 times and the middle part 1 time. I used Rose Red ink. I cut out 2 of the 3 biggest rose images and the center of the third one. Then I cut out the middle image. I sponged them all with Rose Red and More Mustard and then sponged the edges with Basic Black ink. I stuck the 2 largest rose images together, rotating one a bit to add a swirling effect. I stuck the middle rose image on next and then cut a piece of a Dimensional to stick the smallest piece on. The 3 leaves were stamped in Old Olive squiggled with a bit of Always Artichoke marker right on the rubber. Then I huffed on the stamp and stamped it. Then I sponged the edges with Basic Black ink.
After I stamped the sentiment from
SU Happy Harmony I ran the white cs through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. Then I adhered the rose and the leaves using Dimensionals.
Before putting all the squares on the background I added 2 polka dotted ribbons to continue the polka dotted theme of the main piece. I adhered the ribboned background to black cs. Then I added the squares...with Dimensionals. You can see I love Dimensionals a little too much.
Phew! It doesn't sound complicated, but it sure felt that way!
That's about it. Thanks for looking!
Stamps: SU Roses in Winter, SU Print Pattern, SU Canvas, SU Friendship's Journey, SU Botanicals, SU Happy Harmony, Rubber Cottage "Girl Face LG"
CS: Black, Purely Pomegranate, Certainly Celery, White
Inks: Rose Red, More Mustard, Old Olive, Basic Black
Other: Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" and "Diamonds in the Rough" embossing folders, Big and small square punches, Polka dot ribbon, Always Artichoke marker, Dimensionals, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Sponges
