Northern VA Shoebox Swap Card

As promised, here's the card I brought for today's Northern VA shoebox swap event. The event was great! Lots of fantastic cards and stampers. Of course, there were some sets we used today that now I'm thinking I might have to get my hands on. It never fails to happen . . . Some stampers brought 3-D items to swap, too, and they were incredible. What talent there is on SCS!

When I sat down to design the card, I didn't have a specific design in mind, but I had a few criteria for my creation: no flowers, since the last few shoebox swap cards I've designed have been flowers; no retiring SU! stamp sets; using only one set, or a set plus a background or sentiment; relatively quick to complete; and using some designer paper. So, with those "rules" in mind, I came up with this card. As you can see, I didn't entirely stick to the no flowers rule--but I don't really consider this one a floral card.

The card's color combination came straight from the SU! color wheel. I used Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, and So Saffron. Unfortunately, my photo editing software doesn't capture the combo very well . . . Anyway, the "U" is done with the rock and roll technique. The sentiment is stamped in craft ink and heat embossed to add texture. The centers of the flowers on the Rose Red piece are colored in with the white gel pen for a nice "pop." I debated about using Stickles, but decided that I'd stick with gel pen to shorten the drying time, even though I love the Stickles sparkle. The Au Chocolate designer paper ended up being a great match for this color combo. Of course, there's paper piercing on the card too--couldn't leave that out, could I?

Materials Used (All from Stampin' Up!):
All About U stamp set; Chocolate Chip and Rose Red Classic inks; Close to Cocoa Craft ink; Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, So Saffron, and Very Vanilla cardstock; Au Chocolat designer paper; chocolate grosgrain; mat pack and paper piercing tool; white gel pen; copper brad; Crystal Clear embossing powder