This morning our family was very focused and ambitious, so I had some extra time to play with paper. It's something I love, but don't get to do often. However, I do teach two stamping classes a month, so I do have to get my projects done.
This card was totally inspired by Kimberly Van Diepen. (You can see her original here. I nearly copied every aspect of it!) I loved the use of the Island Indigo quatrefoil paper on the Crumb Cake base, but wanted to play around with the colors.
I added a strip of Wild Wasabi card stock on the bottom and immediately got a preppy vibe. I stamped the sentiment in Night of Navy, added the 1/2 inch strip of Wisteria Wonder at the bottom. Although my initial goal was to create a beautiful shabby card like Kimberly's, I loved the clean, crisp look. I still felt it needed a little something. What better than pearls? 4 tiny pearl accents in the corners of the Wisteria Wonder strip were perfect.
After finishing my preppy card, I wanted to make a similar card, but with a shabby feel. This is where I added embellishments like Kimberly's. I also "distressed" every piece of card stock and paper with Soft Suede ink in contrast to the clean look of the first card.
It's hard to say which is my favorite. But I love that the entire feel of a card can be changed with a sponge, ink and a few minimal embellishments.
Here they are side by side for comparison.
What are you doing today to get creative?