Splendid Thoughts Today

Hello Friends!  Have you ever sat down with an idea, and you knew just what you were going to make?  Then oops! - the second cut you made in your cardstock was almost a whole inch off!  What was I thinking?  And where did I ever learn to measure?  Yikes!  Actually, I put the piece of cardstock aside for a few days and went on to do what I'd originally planned.  Today I just now got back to it.  The new card idea turned out pretty cool, I think.  It looks totally different than what I made originally, but that's what makes it so fun!  

This card starts with an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Cajun Craze cardstock.   It's scored at 4 1/4" and has 1 3/4" cut from the open right edge. Like I said, not sure what I was thinking when I cut that, but I was determined to work with this piece!  The Rustic Pumpkins Designer Series Paper was sitting out and there were some cut pieces sitting there left over from the other project.  I had used the other side of this paper that has these awesome pumpkins on a black background. The bold stripes were a little daunting for me, but why not?  I liked how they angled differently but met up in the middle quite perfectly.  It was like they were made just for this card.  How crazy is that?  The right-side piece measures 1 1/2" x 5 1/4" and the left side measures 2 1/4" x 5 1/4".  They are both attached with adhesive.

A panel of Cajun Craze cardstock was cut with the Rectangle Stitched Dies to hold the focal point of the card.  I cut a piece of Mossy Meadow cardstock that measures 2 3/4" x 4 1/8" to back the Cajun Craze piece.  These are layered together with adhesive.

Then it was time to find something bold that would work with the Cajun Craze and also with black & white stripes on the card.  No easy task there!  After looking at several different stamp sets and almost choosing the Celebrate Sunflowers set, I decided to try the Splendid Thought stamps and dies instead.  Good choice, I think!

I stamped two of the leafy images with Mossy Meadow ink.  This time I used the Water Brushes to add light touches of both Mossy Meadow and Cajun Craze inks.  The water softened the stamped edges and blended the two colors onto the leaves.  If I had wanted crisper edges on the leaves, I would have stamped them with Stazon Jet Black ink instead.  After water coloring, they were die-cut with the matching Splendid Stems Dies.  To add a little filler behind the stems, another leaf stem was die-cut from Mossy Meadow cardstock.  This open-work stem gives just a hint of more greenery behind to fill.

To go with the bold look that was developing for the card, Gold Foil was die-cut with the half-circle die in the set.  Afterwards, it was embossed with the Hive 3D Embossing Folder to give it lots of texture and interest.  Stampin' Seal was placed on the backside of this near the top to carefully attach the water-colored stems as desired.  The openwork greenery was attached to the Cajun Craze panel with MultiPurpose Liquid Glue near the top.  Then the planter with plants was attached over this using Dimensionals. 

One of the sentiments from the Splendid Thoughts set was used to stamp onto Basic White using Mossy Meadow ink.  I wanted to use one of the Rectangle Stitched dies again, but none were the right size so I die-cut it with the edge of the sentiment near one of the ends.  Then moved the die closer to the other end being careful to keep the stitching in line and ran it through again.  I don't think you can tell which end has the second cut at all.  Very handy trick to get the right size die!

The focal images were attached to the card front only on the open flap.  It's set over more to the left side to accommodate the sentiment.  It's attached flat with adhesive.  The sentiment was attached with adhesive to the planter and one Dimensional onto the corner of the Cajun Craze panel.  The rest of the sentiment is unattached.

To finish up the card, a panel of Basic White that measures 2 3/8" x 5 1/4" was attached inside the card.  To be a little different, I attached three of the inside pieces die-cut from the open-work stem on the front of the card.  They're just attached in the corner to look like another plant inside the card.  Just a little fun addition.

Lastly, what to do about bling?  Tried several options and decided on the Brushed Brass Butterflies.  They have a little shine, but don't compete with the awesome planter.  Just enough.

Hope you like today's card save.  You just never know what you'll come up with when you're struggling to use a miss-cut piece of cardstock.  Most times I end up using it for scraps on other projects, but this time I felt like addressing a challenge.  So glad I did, because this card is really out of my comfort-zone.  It's bold and I don't see a pastel color anywhere!  Of course, while water coloring with those dark colors, I did manage to keep them a little softer!  😁

Thanks for stopping by today.  Don't forget Sale-a-Bration is still going on until the end of August.  Get your goodies while you can!  If it's too hot to be outside, take time to stay in and get creative.   It's a wonderful way to spend some of your summer!

Happy stamping and creating!

Sharon