Yearning For Adventure

I finally had a chance to stamp! Since I started working again I have not finished a card! Everything I have been posting was done before Thanksgiving. So once the clutter of Christmas was cleared away, I finally had a chance to sit down and get back to work on my art! It was sort of hard to get back into the groove. I spent most of Saturday just puttering around in my craft room, trying to get inspired. I still have a lot of Christmas DSP and stamps that I didn't get time to use so it was hard letting go of the Christmas theme. I sort of wanted to start on Valentine's Day cards, but decided to put that off for a bit. I finally settled on something with flowers that would be a background for a Rubbernecker sentiment stamp that I have been wanting to use. I've had this one and a few others from Rubbernecker for at least six months and none of them have seen ink yet!

With all the layers and stitching, this card took me about 10 hours to make. It is finished off completely on the inside. I wanted to make something slightly vintage but not distressed. I finally decided to use last year's SU DSP LeJardin. I really love that paper pack and have a brand new unopened pack of it squirreled away! The base of the card is a 5.5" square of Bashful Blue. The next panel up is Very Vanilla with the edges sponged with Creamy Caramel. To add interest and texture to the DSP, I clear embossed one side with a harliquin stamp from Hero Arts and the other side is stamped in More Mustard and clear embossed with the Script BG stamp from SU. The edges were again sponged with Creamy Caramel and machine stitched to the Very Vanilla layer. The main image is the flower from The Art of Life set with Bashful Blue and Always Artichoke inks. I traced over the stamped image with my Versamark pen and clear embossed the image also. The edges of both layers were also sponged with Creamy Caramel and this layer was popped up on craft foam. The sentiment was stamped in Always Artichoke and the flower image stamped across it after being stamped off once. Both sentiment panels were cut with the Nestabilities Long Rectangles. The ribbon is from last year's SU collection. The filagree in the top corners was cut with the Cuttlebug Floral Borders die, inked with Always Artichoke and clear embossed. The antique looking daisy "brads" are actually the front of old earings I picked up recently at an antique store. I pried the backs off and glued them to the ribbon. The colors match the So Saffron in the DSP perfectly and add a nice retro touch. The inside was finished off with a combination of the same stamps, inks and papers I used for the front panels. I really love the way this card came out. I think it has a slightly country French feel to it. The soft, subtle colors of the LeJardin paper pack are so soothing to me and I think the card has a nice "artsy" look to it. Hope you enjoyed looking at this card.