Tuesday, March 29, 2011

An Exercise in Neutrals

One of my dear, dear friends is celebrating a birthday in early April, so it was back to the craft room to see what I could come up with. Thankfully, I had a little help from the talent at Stamping Celebration, whose inspiration challenge this week was an exercise in Neutrals.


Now, when I first sat down to create Julie's card, I ended up deviating from my original plan and instead created a card that wasn't really "her".  So, while that card was fun and all (and available here), I really wanted to create something specific to her tastes.

And so, this card was born.


This card was an evolutionary process for me.  I stumbled upon a wonderful tutorial for the background technique from Kathy's blog at stampingstill.blogspot.com.  She used a series of masks to create a mosaic-esque, collagey background that I absolutely fell in love with!  (her tutorial also used stamps that I happened to have on hand, so I was doubley excited to CASE her beautiful idea).

I definitely want to try this technique again using more colors, I really think that makes the technique shine, but for the purposes of this card, I wanted to keep the background neutral.  Why, you ask? Well, because of my color challenge, of course!

I've interpreted the inspiration challenge into a Very Vanilla, Basic Black, and Crumb Cake card that has just a hint of white. (I pulled out my white gel pen again to give the flowers a little pop.  For another card using this technique, see my Cheery Cherry Blossoms).

With Julie's card, I zeroed in on the stamps pretty quickly.  You see, she is nuts about music and married to a musician.  Music is a big part of her life, so I chose to honor that by using the Music Notes stamping wheel.  (Full disclosure here, I've unmounted all of my wheels because I find I can be more spontaneous with them this way.)  I paired Music Notes with the Friendly Words jumbo wheel (also unmounted), and stamps from Friends 24/7 and Perfect Punches.

I find that when I'm designing a card for a specific person (as opposed to for a class or "just because"), I take FOREVA to come up with something that is tailored to them.  These are the cards that I "tinker" with to get just perfect and they also give me the most enjoyment when all is said and done.

Julie is a doll and I know she'd appreciate whatever I send her, but I'm in the business of sending smiles, so might as well go big or go home, ya know? ;-)


DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Music Notes Stampin Wheel, Friendly Words Jumbo Wheel, Friends 24/7, Perfect Punches
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black Crumb Cake
Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Accessories: Two Tags bigz die, 2 x 1 3/8 Oval Punch, White Gel Pen

10 comments:

  1. beautiful! great unique design, love it. hugz n blessings.

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  2. Absolutely stunning. Love, love the use of masks here. I will definitely be trying it out. Thanks for playing along with us this week at Stampin' celebration.

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  3. Beautiful card. Love how you used the tag die. I am sure your friend will really appreciate her card.

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  4. Elegant and Gorgeous!! Wonderful work. TFS :)

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  5. Michey, this is absolutely gorgeous! Wow! Your background looks stunning with that technique and I really like the neutral colors. Very rich and elegant. :)

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  6. Awsome card! Love that background! It looks great in the Crumb Cake ink! Thanks for playing at the Stampin' Clebration this week!

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  7. I love the uniqueness (did I spell that right?) of this card. I think your friend will love it. It's awesome! TFS. yolanda-tryingtobecreative.blogspot.com

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  8. Your card is beautiful Michey.
    I'm glad you got inspiration from my tutorial, thanks for the link.
    You did a great job with it.
    Kathy

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  9. Cool background! I also like how you used the tag die for your main image. Thanks so much for playing along at Stampin' Celebration!

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  10. What a wonderful card! Love the background stamping! Thanks for joining us at Stampin' Celebration!!

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