Blogger Challenge: Week 40

The theme for this week's blogger challenge was "spring flowers," definitely an appropriate one for this time of the year. I've had this pretty flower image from Starving Artistamps sitting on my stamping table for a while now, so I thought that this challenge would be the perfect use for it. I have no idea what kind of flowers these are, as I'm not a big plant/flower person and, after Cosmo the Crazy Dog's run-in with one of the three "real" plants I have in my house and the resulting trip to the vet, it's not likely that I will be investing in many (or any!) more plants any time soon. I'm starting to wonder if there's anything that Cosmo won't eat . . .

Anyway, I used the spotted background technique to create a vibrant background for the stamped image. I randomly pressed my Regal Rose, Pixie Pink, and Ruby Red stamping spots on a piece of glossy cardstock, starting with the lightest spot and buffing the ink spots as I went along. The flower image was stamped in black ink and embellished with some Stickles at the flower center.

I used one of the largest petite oval Nestabilities dies to cut out the image. It fit *almost* all of the image inside. I matted the image on the largest petite oval, cut from light pink cardstock. I cut the largest scalloped oval out of a piece of black cardstock. Pink and black aren't traditional "spring" colors, but I think that the little bit of black makes the black stamped image "pop"from all of the pink. To soften it a little and to coordinate with the dotted cardstock I used on the left side of the card, I pierced holes in each of the scallops and highlighted them with my white gel pen. I also added a little piece of pink satin ribbon to the edge of the oval. The ribbon is from Target's bridal section and it's a great deal--15 yards for $2.99! It comes in a bunch of pretty colors, too.

I put these pieces together into a z-fold card. I think these cards are so cool looking and fun to make. But, it annoys me that they don't stay closed easily. I decided to try to come up with a way to get the card to stay closed that doesn't detract from the design. I ended up using a set of the Basic Grey magnetic snaps. I attached one under the black scalloped oval so it's hidden from view. The other should have gone between the stamped image layer and the pink mat, but as I was assembling the card, the power went out and everything went pitch black. I had to scramble for my flashlight and find the freaking out dog (he has a bizarre fear of power outages--just another reason he's kind of crazy) and while that happened, the layers were too stuck together for me to unstick. So, the other snap went on the back of the pink oval. It's still not visible when the card's opened, but would be better the other way.

Thanks for sticking with all of my rambling here . . . If you've made it through all of this, be sure to check out what the other challenge players have created for this week's theme. There are so many possibilities, so I'm sure you'll find a lot of great stuff. You can find links to their blogs in the sidebar on the right.

Materials Used:

flower bunch image (Starving Artistamps); Regal Rose, Pixie Pink, and Ruby Red Classic inks, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, and Basic Black cardstock, Loves Me designer paper, white gel pen, mat pack and paper piercing tool, corner rounder (Stampin' Up!); Noir Black ink (Palette); petite oval and petite scalloped oval dies (Nestabilities); Star Dust Stickles (Ranger); pink brads (Joann); magnetic snap (Basic Grey); pink satin ribbon (Target)