Random Stuff!

As promised, here is a card I pulled from my basket I call "Pumpkin Bloom"that I feel is a good example of tying all the elements of on a card together. This uses Papertrey's Spooky Sweets (pumpkin and "curly queue"(sp?) images) and Faux Ribbon("stem" and sentiment). Nichole gave this card an Honorable Mention in her September Gueststar Stamper contest, for it's out of the box idea, but I think there are a few other things about it that made it successful.

I began with my color scheme: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and Mellow Moss, a really soothing color combo I like to use a lot. After creating the focal point, I needed to make my greeting. Using the large and small oval punch to make the Perfect Plum window for the tag, I created a "petal" which ties into my focal point. The vertical Mellow Moss strip for the border echoes the stem. Finally, the tied moss grosgrain attached to the tag, echoes the leaf. Had I used a round tag, a horizontal border, etc I don't think it would have had the same impact. Adding punched flower or other embellishments would take away from Nichole's beautiful image.

So what do you think? Do all these things make a unified card, or did I just get lucky?? LOL! Maybe try it the next time you get stuck in the middle of a creation and you know it needs something else but don't know what. Look at the colors, patterns, shapes in your focal point for clues, and hopefully you'll find the answer you need...using this approach as I've gained more experience has led me to creating better cards, and a much faster completion time, which is a GREAT bonus! Let me know how it goes!

I've seen lots of options for organizing ribbon: store bought containers, shoeboxes, rain gutters, curtain rods, ...I am the only one who uses a loaf pan and a tinker toy rod? Anyone? This cheap little solution holds up to 18 spools of SU! grosgrain, whaddya think?? (of course you have to take them all out when you need to some make banana bread, but I just recommend going and buying an extra to leave in the kitchen LOL!

Actually my 5 year old just noticed this other day(after probably about a year of it being on the shelf) and told me very solemnly: "You did not ask permission, Mama" (for the tinker toy). I think my response was something along the lines of "Tough! You left it on the floor! And I paid for them anyway!" but said in the kindest possible way, of course! Oh, don't feel sorry for him, he just got a million things for Christmas and I've gotta keep my desk clean!! ;)

Have great day!! Go stamp something! ;)