Well I Sorta Got a Little "Dirty"!

Do you remember the SCS Get Dirty '07 Challenge from a few weeks ago? I didn't participate very much in the challenges, for some reason, I just wasn't very interested. But there was one challenge that caught my eye and that was the challenge to use brown, black and cream on a card. I knew I had the PERFECT paper to get started creating something really fun for this challenge! Once again, my Webster's Pages designer paper was calling out to me to create, create, create! I was lucky enough to bring a few sheets home with me from CHA, and it's just been sitting on my desk in front of me for days screaming out to me to pick it up and use it!!! Woo-hoo!!!

Now, brown, black and cream is not normally a color combination I would ever sit down and consciously use for a card. I would definitely use either brown or black ALONE with cream, but never all three together. And using this combination in the middle of summer was DEFINITELY a stretch for this old girl. This is the time of year I am drawn to bright pinks, turquoise, purples, and sunny yellows, not blacks and browns. But the Webster's Pages paper that I had in my hot little hands was the perfect paper to remedy my hesitation. I couldn't resist the paper any longer! So I got busy putting a few cards together. I never uploaded them to the SCS gallery, so this is the first time they are being seen by anyone.

The Webster's Pages patterned paper I used for my first card is called Full Bloom, from the Classical Garden collection. I used it as my main background paper. I scallope the bottom of the paper using decorative scissors and then layered it on a piece of brown metallic cardstock. Then I layered the whole thing on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. Finally, it was adhered to the front of the card, which was black cardstock. The sentiment is from SU's new set called All Holidays. It was stamped with black ink on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. I gave the piece a distressed look by rubbing Ranger Tea Stain Ink all over it with a sponge. This piece was then layered onto an embossed piece of metallic brown carstock (I embossed it first with my Cuttlebug). Two ribbons, one gingham and one polka dot, are wrapped right below the sentiment for a fun twist.

The second card I made for this challenge I had to break the rules a little bit. You all know I do that from time to time:)! For this card, black, brown and cream was a bit too much and too boring. I slipped in a little Purely Pomogranate for a little splash of color! Sshhhh...don't tell anyone!

To begin with, I took a piece of brown cardstock to serve as my base card. The cardstock I use for all my brown and black cardbases is white on the inside, which I absolutely love. Using this stuff saves me from having to use a piece of light colored cardstock on the inside for writing on. I buy it at a LSS here that also sells paper in bulk. It is very thick and textured. I use it all the time!

Anyways, I stamped the front of my brown cardbase with the Baroque Motif swirl stamp using Whisper White craft ink. The paper I used on this card is also from Webster's Pages and is called Fresh Baked from their Coco Collection! Since I've been getting to know Terri Conrad, the designer of Webster's Pages paper better via some amazing email correspondance, I think I'm going to ask her how they come up with the names for both their collections, and for their individual patterns. I'm serious! This is something that totally intrigues me--the process of naming everything. Some of you might remember from a post I made months ago where I said that someday, I wanted to be a "Designer Paper Name Maker" because I was intrigued by all the cool names chosen for paper patterns! I was just joking around then, but really, I want to know what the process is! I know, I know, I'm weird! But if I am lucky enough to find out the answer to this question someday, you know I'm gonna share it with you and you know you'll be as amazed as me in the end!!

Wow, that was a big tangent I just veered off on, uh? Sorry 'bout that! Back to the card. The horizontal strip of paper is called Fresh Baked and is from the Coco Collection. I first matted the small piece with some Purely Pomogranate cardstock, because there was just TOO much brown going on here. It needed a little pizazz! I added a small scallop strip right below the Purely Pomogranate cardstock, which was cut using decorative scissors. The sentiment is from SU's So Many Sayings set (which if you remember, I cut up into to make a whole bunch of single sentiments). I stamped it on Very Vanilla cardstock, and then punched out using my oval punch. It was matted with Purely Pomogranate cardstock and then I cut around it using my tiny scallop scissors. It's mounted in the center of the horizontal strip using dimensional tape.

So that's it. Those are my only Get Dirty '07 cards. I love how they turned out, even if my preference for this time of year is bright and cheerful color combinations! I hope you have a wonderful Sunday, enjoy spending time with your family! I am headed over to the club today to have a Body Age Analysis done on myself. Yikes. I'm not sure I'm going to like what I hear because at this stage of the game, I'm not in very good shape. I just hope it doesn't come up too much higher than my actual age of 44!

Hugs,
Amy