Blogger's Challenge: Week 10

This week's challenge for the Bloggers Challenge group was to use the layout from the Circus Train card on page 92 of the current SU! Fall-Winter Collection to create a card. Boy, did I struggle with this one! I have two cards to share with you for this challenge--one that fits the challenge well and one that doesn't exactly stay true to the layout, but I can say that it was inspired by it.

Maybe because the original card uses the Circus Train set, I was thinking about using Wild About You for this challenge. I had visions of using a few of the animal images on the squares along with some patterned paper. That ended up too busy and too crowded on a regular sized card front. So, I decided to just use the elephant. I found designer paper from two packages (Petals & Paisleys and the retired Loves Me paper) that had similar color schemes and based the card's colors on those papers. The elephant is stamped in the new Basic Grey ink--love the rich color! I stamped the ear on a scrap of paper then cut it out and attached it to the elephant image with dimensionals. The flower the elephant is holding is a small rose colored Prima flower.

This is actually the first card I made while working on this challenge. It's a 6" x 3" card for the challenge--a first for me. The card base is stamped with the Polka Dot background stamp. I kept the squares from the original layout, but changed their position and added an additional one. They're a little crowded, but they all fit. The patterned paper squares are from my favorite Fall Flowers designer paper package. I made the remaining three squares into "windows, " framed in a Soft Sky square, that reveal animals from the Wild About You set. The animals all have some 3-D details, including wiggly eyes, parts raised on dimensionals, or coloring with a Glaze pen.

The sentiment is actually on the inside of the card. I used the word window punch to punch a window through the card front, then lined the stamped and punched sentiment up and glued it to the inside of the card so it's visible from the front when the card is closed. I got some fun Amuse ribbon at my local stamp store. The ribbon is threaded through the word window punch space and wraps all the way around the card. The green looks great with the olive color of this card.

Be sure to check out the cards the other participants in the Bloggers Challenge group madeusing this layout. You can find a listing of their blogs in the sidebar on the right.

Materials Used (first card):

From Stampin' Up!: Wild About You and Linen stamp sets; Basic Grey and Pretty in Pink Classic inks; Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, Taken with Teal, and Certainly Celery markers; Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, and Whisper White cardstock; Loves Me and Petals & Paisleys designer paper; mat pack and paper piercing tool; dimensionals; 3/4" circle punch

Other: rose brads (Making Memories); flower (Prima); wiggly eye; 7/8" circle punch (EK Success)

Materials Used (second card):

From Stampin' Up!: Wild About You and Polka Dot stamp sets; Basic Grey, Garden Green, Soft Sky, Really Rust, Old Olive, and More Mustard Classic inks; Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip markers; Old Olive, Soft Sky, and Whisper White cardstock; Fall Flowers designer paper; word window punch; 1 3/8" square punch; dimensionals

Other: mega square punch (Marvy Uchida); green edged organdy ribbon (Amuse Art Stamps); wiggly eyes; black, blue, and orange Glaze pens (Sakura)