Encre, papier, ciseaux: En Route to a Monster Bash

Inspiration: Color Throwdown #569

Funny how the Color Throwdown challenge post talks about purple being a challenging colour. I don't hate purple, but I don't gravitate towards it. When having a conversation about color with my mom, she mentioned she didn't like purple herself. And then I noticed that when she comes home and she she looks at my handmade cards, she'll point out some that she really loves and then I'll tease her that for someone who doesn't love purple, she sure selects a lot of card showcasing purple as her favorite! We always have a good laugh about it and she'll say, Well, I guess it's all about purple is used, really.

I think that sums it best. For me as well, it's all about how purple is used. Most of the cards I've made with purple I end up liking, but it's just about finding the inspiration to include purple in the first place. Greens and blues will get me instantly inspired; purple shades take a little bit more work. I don't know that I necessarily would have jumped on this color combo, but I had already pulled out the Peek-a-Boo Car and the Peek-a-Boo Scary Pals stamp sets to pair together, and when I started looking for colour inspiration, I knew the green and purple combo would fit a little monster well. I also have some purple Distress Oxide sprays, so I knew I could pull those out to make a background. (See, this is where my creative logic can sometimes be hard to follow: I only have a handful of Distress sprays right now and yet, two of those bottles are purple shades. I've also only bought three icing paste jars and one of them is purple. Go figure... I guess I like what I like and there's not always a rime or reason behind it.)

So I sprayed a piece of watercolor paper with Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide spray and I already knew I wanted to add texture paste using the Bubble layering stencil. I was initially thinking of dying white paste with a purple reinker but as I was reaching for my white paste, I noticed my icing paste jars and remembered I had a gorgeous amethyst one in there. It's the most gorgeous shade that will turn even the most dubious purple lover into one.

While this was drying, I started working on my images, coloring them with Copic markers. At first, I was unsure of the result, but I decided to die-cut the images to get a better sense of whether I liked the result of not. Once I layered the images, I thought it was really cute and decided the card was a-go. Then I looked at sentiment options. I have to admit: I barely ever plan an exact sentiment into a design. There's a few exceptions here and there, but most of the time, I work on the card and once my elements are in place, I go hunting in my stamps for something of the right size that has the right saying and font to fit the feel of the card. In a way, it's like playing with fire, as I'm just working with whatever space I have left and assuming I'll find something that fits. My stamp collection is so extensive at this point that most of the time, it's not an issue, but there have been some instances where the sentiment hunting ended up being quite the lengthy endeavour. Today's was not bad, but I did find out that some of the sentiments I might have liked couldn't be worked in there because I couldn't stamp over the embossing paste and had to make sure I either stamped something narrow or layered another piece over the paste. This is what I ended up doing. I'm not sure how I feel about the ink blending on the sentiment strip. I was picturing a soft ombre effect from the center out and it didn't quite turn out like I had envisioned, but it worked well enough to please me, at the time. (This is a case of me second-guessing the result now that the card is done. Who knows, though, I might go back to loving it tomorrow after sleeping on it.)

I added a few sequins and gems to embellish a bit and I added some Lime embossing powder on a purple envelope to complete the set. It's funny, this purple envelope is a sample that I added to my last envelope order. The website allows up to five samples with an order. At $1 a sample, that makes for a pricey envelope, but because the minimum order of a colour is 50, I sometimes feel like it's a worthy investment to buy a $1 envelope before deciding if you're willing to commit to 50. As you can imagine, because purple is not my most used shade, I felt a sample was needed. This one is Purple Flower Metallic. When I received it, I was not convinced I liked the colours enough to get some. But today when I looked through envelopes to find one to go with the card, the purple one went so well with the card that I couldn't pick anything else. (The company puts a sticker with the item info on the sample, but luckily, they use the kind of stickers that peels off easily without leaving any glue behind, so I was able to use the envelope without a problem.)

By the way, I couldn't resist getting some more Peek-a-Boo stamps from Avery Elle. You've seen me use the polar pals last Christmas (here and here) and the fun swimming animals this summer, and the little bear at his cocoa stand last week. I also decided to add the car and the monsters to my collection. They'll be great for Halloween projects next year (got them too late for this year's Halloween), but they're generic enough to work for masculine cards, birthday cards, etc. There's just something about the adorable faces and the cute little paws that gets me every time. I've loved every single cards I've made with those stamps. They're just plain ol' fun!

Supplies
Stamps: Peek-a-Boo Scary Pals, Peek-a-Boo Car (Avery Elle);
Ballons à l'aventure (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Accessories: Purple Power Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Lime Mixed Media Powder, Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet Distress Oxide Spray (Ranger);
Amethyst Magic Icing Paste (Finnabair); Bubble Layering Stencil (Tim Holtz);
Sequins, Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends Markers,
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!); Glitter Gloss Aqua
Shimmer Brush (Nuvo); Wonky Stitch Rectangles Dies (My Favorite Things);
Let's Be Mermaid Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards)