A Bouquet of Roses For You - March '09 Sheetload of Cards Challenge

March 2009 Sheetload of Cards ezine

Show us your Sheetload Challenge - ends March 31

I am entering this card for the March '09 Sheetload of Cards challenge. I have been wanting to participate in their challenges and loved the sketch from the March ezine. You can download the March issue here. If you hurry, you still have time to enter - deadline for cards is March 31.

The great things about Sheetloads is that, in each issue, you get a lot of inspiration/ideas from their fabulous designers, as well as instructions and illustrations on how to make one card or a handful of cards. This is actually the first card I made using the sewing machine and thought it came out quite nicely. I bought this huge stamp made by Northwoods Rubber Stamps (with no name) for half the retail price from Ben Franklin a couple of weeks ago and I had been itching to ink it up. The stamp set is so big indeed that I had a hard time finding a nestie it would fit in, but alas, none of mine were big enough. The curved rectangles would have taken too much of the front of the card so I decided to stamp it out on white cardstock with Palette Noir, colored in with markers and an aquapainter, and tediously cut out the image. It was intricate and full of small thin parts that two of the branches fell off while cutting. So it wouldn't completely fall apart on the card, I used the cracked glass technique (found here on SCS) and I think it rather suited the image quite well (I took a picture of the image for a closer look at the cracked glass technique). I distressed it with a little chocolate chip ink to seep through the cracks for some distressing (I just love to distress when I can). I ended up using a smaller size oval (distressed with some antique linen distress ink) to make the roses stand out more. I did not stamp a sentiment on it yet because you can use it for so many occassions like Mother's Day.

stamps: northwoods rubber stamps roses paper: white cs ink: palette noir, antique linen distress ink, bliss blue, bordering blue, old olive, gable green, positively pink, rose red accessories: clear mini decorative accents, brown and pink ribbon, aquapainter, scotch foam mounting tape, ultra thick embossing enamel, sponge for distressing, sewing machine, nestabilities oval