Flowers After the Rain

Happy Monday!  I had a whirlwind weekend of turkey, family and shopping and now it's time to settle back in to reality for the next few weeks.  I really love holiday weekends, though.  I get spoiled having my husband home to help me with the kids and sometimes I even get to sleep in a bit...pure heaven!

I created today's card for the current CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge.  This challenge is for Clean and Simple cards (little or no embellishments and lots of open space).  You can read more about this challenge HERE. 

Here is the sketch:

  

And here is my card:

I started with a brown card stock base and a piece of Natural White card stock (Natural White is a vanilla shade).  I stamped my flower stems with Ancient Page Pine, then added the flower heads with Memento Rhubarb Stalk.  I wanted my sentiment to have a slightly darker hue than my stems, so I inked the stamp first with Memento Rich Cocoa, then inked over that with Ancient Page Pine to create a subtle difference.  I also inked the edges of the panel with Memento Rich Cocoa to bring out the brown shade in the sentiment.  I have a really tough time lining up sentiments sometimes, so I used a stamp positioner.  That tool is worth its weight in gold!

I wanted to use a piece of very light gold card stock behind my stamped panel but I didn't have one that was long enough (this piece came from a grab bag and it is just lovely in person).  I ran it through my Big Shot in the Swiss Dots folder, then cut it in the middle and adhered it to my card base with a gap to make it "stretch" to the necessary length.  I covered up the gap by adhering my stamped piece over it with Stampin' Dimensionals. 

I stayed fairly true to the sketch with a couple of exceptions.  The sketch uses a horizontal panel behind the stamped piece, but I felt the height of my flowers called for a vertical panel instead.  I also switched the sentiment and image to opposite sides to accommodate my flowers.  This sketch is a really versatile one that I plan to use again!

I hope to finish another card this evening that I will share with you soon, but for now I'm off to check the Cyber Monday specials and try to finish up my Christmas shopping!  Thanks for stopping by!

Products Used:

Stamps: Field Flowers, Brighter Tomorrow (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: Classic Crest Natural White card stock (Neenah); brown card stock, gold card stock (unknown)

Ink: Ancient Page Pine (Clearsnap); Memento Rhubarb Stalk, Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko)

Tools/Accessories: Swiss Dots Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug); Big Shot (Sizzix);

Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); stamp positioner