Inspiration: Clean&Simple Sketch #97 + ColourQ #169
This project evolved into something much more complicated than I first intended for it to be. I had seen the Clean&Simple sketch previously and when I woke up, I had this idea that I could use the Crafty dies as the three elements from the sketch and Crafty Turnabout stamp to make a background. And then I got this idea to turn it into a Holidays card by stamping something like "Have a crafty Christmas."
So I went looking at past ColourQ combos for inspiration and picked something Christmas-y. I stamped the turnabout, die-cut the scissors, stamp and paintbrush and assembled everything. And then I realized that the die-cuts were getting totally lost in the background! Not good. So I pulled out a sheet of vellum to solve the problem and die-cut it to A2 size using the Stitched Rectangle Stackables dies from Lawn Fawn.
Then I went hunting for Christmas stamps in English. Now, I mostly stamp in French so I tend to favour French sets whenever I can. That being said, most companies offer only English sets and when I like the images enough, I will purchase the set no matter what the language is. Which means that I have a lot of English sentiments lying around. Because I am always looking for the perfect sentiment, I have compiled all of the sentiments from the sets I own into an Excel spreadsheet so I can look for specific keywords. This works out WAY better than my old method of stamping images in a binder. So today I went to my trusty spreadsheet and started looking up "have a merry Christmas" and "happy new year." I was shocked to find out how little options I had. Especially with all the Lawn Fawn sets I own, I would have expected more results to come out! Anyway, the closest hit was "Merry Christmas and happy new year" from a Papertrey Ink set, so I pulled it out, and using a marker, I crossed happy out and handwrote crafty underneath. I looked at the result and was not too happy, so I decided to use alphabet dies instead.
Initially, I had planned on making an A2 card. But the more I was looking at the card, the more I wanted the wider sentiment strip and I liked having the background peek out from underneath the vellum, so I made a 5-1/4" x 5-1/4" card base. While looking for sentiment stamps, I had also stumbled unto the Stitched Rectangle Frames and decided they would look nice framing the vellum. So with all of those new ideas colliding, I started assembling the card.
I was practically finished and the die-cut letters were bugging me. Too big and taking away from the visual triangle. So I carefully lifted them up and used a small alphabet stamp set instead to add crafty back in. I added a bit of red washi tape at the top because I couldn't use glue underneath the vellum without it showing and the vellum was poking up, so washi was a pretty way to solve the problem. I then added a die-cut button, a silver brad on the scissors, a couple of red gems, Crystal Effects on the little heart, button and paint, and I decided I was done.
I kept thinking it was a shame to waste the die-cut letters so I recycled them as embellishment for the card. I added the little thread loop and needle from the same die set, and used the stamp rectangle for the address box. A couple of sequins from the stamp set were added as well. When you look at the final result, it's not clean and simple no more, but you can still recognize the sentiment banner and three main elements that were the starting point.
Colour Combo: Real Red + Basic Grey + Pear Pizzazz + Bermuda Bay + White
Supplies
Stamps: Crafty Turnabout (Concord & 9th); Tree Trimming Trio (papertrey Ink); Alphabet (Studio G)
Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Grey, Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, Brushed Silver, Whisper White, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Real Red, Basic Grey, Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Crafty Dies (Concord & 9th); Glossy Accents (Ranger);
Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frames (Lawn Fawn);
White Square Envelope, Silver Brad (Stampin' Up!); July Crystals (Studio Katia)
How fun is this! Love all the crafty elements and the way you modified the greeting!
Posted by: Natasha | November 17, 2018 at 18:02