PEP tangles - my Zentangle Inspired Art blog

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Floral Poise

front of card

close-up of central panels showing
heat embossed image

corner detail showing shimmer of grey-blue Moondust 
cardstock plus glittering of flower

close-up of floral corner, leaf 
embellishment & metallic twine

inside of card

close-up of message panel showing
paper pierced central scallops

corner detail showing paper piercing
(click on photos to enlarge)

Challenge 53 at the Sugar Bowl is a sketch by Marlene with an inspirational photo for the theme. I have rotated the sketch 90 degrees clockwise & used the colours in the photo for my card's colour scheme.

The following in lilac are my musings over the creative process & not essential to the description of the card.

I should perhaps time the hours it takes me to make a card - this one I think I started working with last Saturday. Each card I make takes me a long time unless it is a CAS card - in which case it takes me around a week & even then I might just give up & it ends in the bin. Somehow the CAS type completely stifles my imagination & once I start working on it I have lots of ideas which make it non CAS so I have to start again.  

With this card the circle gave me trouble as I couldn't find any doilies at the local supermarket & I don't have any circular dies. I tried using a compass or drawing round an object but my cutting skills let me down every time (the little PERFECTIONIST imp was sitting on my shoulder & being critical). Eventually I decided to use a piece of vellum & the Pergamano 2-needle piercing & snips technique in conjunction with a compass. I spent most of Sunday colouring Hippie Chick, several times over until I was reasonably happy with her hair; I cut her out after Sunday evening's dinner & placed her on the card - completely out of proportion to the rest of what I'd done. OK - back to working on the image & a few mishaps later (smudged glitter, a nick to a cardstock edge, fluff/glitter/dust on card in photo etc..., & etc....) & finally here we are Tuesday evening!

Recipe
Stamp Sugar Nellie Leanne Ellis Poise.
Inks VersaMark watermark stamp pad with Stampendous Detail White Embossing Powder; Walnut Stain Distress Ink & Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue for inking some cardstock edges.
Colouring Stickles Glitter Glue (Turquoise).
Cardstock An assortment of blues & browns plus off-white in various textures & finishes from stash.
Papers Patterned vellum - Nancy Watt Collection: Fashion, Flowers & Dots.
Punches Woodware (corner rounder, all flowers apart from light blue, leaves, circle & scalloped square), Xcut (light blue flower), EK Success (decorative corners).
The pearls are Papermania & the metallic thread is from stash.

Challenges Entered
The Sugar Bowl Challenge 53 - Marlene's sketch + inspirational photo (see above)
Simon Says...Make YOur Own Embellishment! - I've made all my flowers using an assortment of punches

12 comments:

Elaine said...

Gorgeous Paula.
Simple and stunning and striking.
Though I agree with you that CAS cards can be really troublesome to make!
My problem is that I will follow the sketch and there will be one last item I need to find a place for on the sketch and I just don't want to put it on my card as I think it's complete without it.
I do think some of my more recent cards are really TOO simple!
Anyway I digress...your card is simplicity at it's best. To say 'simple' still always sounds like a bit of an insult to me, but your card perfectly showcases how good CAS can be and how much of an impact your card makes. Hope my ramblings made some sense (they did to me!)
Love Elaine xxx

Lorraine said...

oh wow this is absolutely beautiful i love the delicate elegance of this card its stunning huni I have missed you i hope you are ok you know where i am if you need a chat i am your friend for life so your a bit stuck with me lol
speak soon
hugs
Lorraine xx

Donalda said...

Girl this is just gorgeous !!! Oh I so love this dear. Love the corners and the embossing just beautiful dear. Hugs

Giò said...

Fabulous Paula!!! The image so simple without colouring is a original and beautiful idea!!!
Hugs, Giò

Kathy said...

Well Paula all of your efforts paid off. Your card is beautiful and elegant. I know what you mean about taking a long time to design a card. I think this is the case for many people..at least it is for me. Thanks for leaving me sweet comments all the time. Have a lovely weekend, Hugs,kathy

Wendy Ramlakhan said...

Just Beautiful, I love this color combo. Your card making process sounds a lot like mine. I spend entirely too much time just trying to choose which paper to use...and let's not even talk about how long it takes me to color even the simplest of images!! :) Well, I guess I'm in good company taking so long...and your card was worth every minute spent, it's BEAUTIFUL!!

Pink Dandelion said...

Well worth all the effort Paula. Your circle looks perfect to me. I used a cheap circle cutter and it ripped bits of the edges so I just covered those bits with the mats lol. I love the metallic twine, I thought it was pattern on the paper until I saw the close up. Take Care Debs xx

Unknown said...

I love how your card is a good representation of the inspiration you used...The brown accents are perfect and feel like hints of the wood from the pic you used. I really like the image you picked and how her elbow kind of juts out a bit...and the fact that she is simple and kept as a white outline. That's really different, and a pretty effect. I would be pretty impressed with myself if I were you!:) It's superb!

hugs, Krista

Wiccababe said...

what a fabulously unusual card Paula - it's so striking
Debz
xx

xxxtglxxx said...

I adore this classy image :) Stunning in simple white and the way you have matted it makes it pop!

I always struggled with circles until I got my nesties - worth every penny! ;) I also have a marianne die which is quite large and has a lot of impact, but boy did I struggle until then. I even still have a WRMK circle cutter which my OH uses for technical stuff but he seems to have the knack of making them perfect.

Loving the mix of brown and blue on this too - its a very elegant combination. Great take on the sketch too, it was quite a challenge.

Hugs

xxalisonxx

Deborah Frings said...

Paula - this is just stunning!! I love the soft colours you've used. And the simplicity of the stamp and white embossing - just gorgeous! This is very elegant. Lovely!!

Maria Therese said...

Oh my Paula your card is gorgeous love the image in white with no coloring! Such a fab idea!!

Thank you for playing the sugar Bowl and thank you so much for the sweet and warming words you left in my blog!!