Retro Sketch # 128

"I can't believe it's Tuesday" seems to be a common phrase in our house this summer. The week's have been flying by, and summer sadly, is on the wane.  

Tuesday is my one day that I set aside each week for stamping and having fun.  My husband's  golfing with his buddies, the house is quiet and it's my day, and my day only (although I do share with my stamping bestie).  Selfish I know, but that's the only way I work in a little leisure time for myself amidst all the other demands of one's life.  

So, Tuesday it is and today Sheri and I've been working on a sketch challenge prepared by Erica Rose for the Retro Sketches site.  Here's the sketch:

Here's My Card:   
Wow this sketch has a lot of detail.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to fit it all in on my card, but I rolled up my sleeves and gave it the college try and made this Anniversary card.  

What do you think?  I'd been dying to do a black and white card for a while now and use some of the Back to Black Designer Series Paper I've been salivating over.  I also got to use a couple of new stamp sets, Bloom With Hope, one of the awesome new Hostess sets and Good Greetings which will be available at the end of August.  
 

The Bloom With Hope Stamp Set is an 11 piece hostess set and can be earned for FREE when you host a party or as a hostess gift when you order $200 or more of Stampin' Up! products. 

I've used several layers of black and white card stock that decrease in size by 1/8".  I embossed the top Whisper White layer with the Houndstooth Embossing Folder, and originally planned to layer it on to a Whisper White card base.  It really didn't look good with just White on White layers, so I added a basic black layer. 

The card was almost finished and looking pretty good and then I made a huge mistake.  When I was adding the basic black layer beneath the card front, I  discovered I'd put it on upside down.  To remedy this I had to do some cutting and add a layer with a basic black card stock base.   This error just proves to me just how relaxed I get when I'm stamping, and, that I can't stamp and talk at the same time.  LOL! 

Supplies: Stamp Sets:  Good Greetings, Bloom With Hope
Card Stock:  Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink:  Tuxedo Black Memento Ink
DSP:  Back to Black DSP and Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Modern Label Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch (R), Delicate Doilies Sizzlets (R), Houndstooth Embossing Folder, Large Basic Rhinestone, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon (R), Trimmer and Big Shot Machine.  

Here's a view of the inside of the card. The card base is Basic Black, so it needs a liner.  This one measures 5 x 3 3/4".   I added a small strip of the DSP along the bottom of the card, stamped a sentiment from one of my retired stamp sets and a small flower in the top corner. 

The rectangles on the card front measure 3 x 3 1/2".  The bottom one which you can barely see is from Basic Black cardstock and the top layer is from the Back to Black Designer Series Paper.  The other details include a 4 /14" x 1/2" strip of Basic Black that was cut out with the Scalloped Edge Border Trim Punch (Retired), and a 1/8" strip of Silver Glimmer Paper.  The banner on the bottom is a strip of DSP in a black and white floral print that measures 1 x 3 1/2".  I added a sentiment "hugs and kisses" from Good Greetings that was stamped on Whisper White and cut out with the Modern Label Punch. The final touch was a small bow made from Whisper White 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon (retired). 

 

I wanted to add some dimension to the small flower from the Bloom With Hope stamp set that resembles an Aster, so I stamped it twice in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on Whisper White card stock and cut out the flowers.  

To bring the dimension to the flower I fussy cut each of the petals on both flower images, and used a bone folder to shape the petals upwards.  Before gluing the two flowers together, I punched out the center of one of them and adhered it to the center of the top flower image with a dimensional.  I also sponged around the edges of all the layers. To finish off the flower I added a large basic rhinestone to the center.   

The flower on it's own looked okay, but it needed a little more detail to give it a WOW look.  I cut out the medium sized doily with the Delicate Doilies Sizzlet Die (retired) and poked out all the little holes around the center.  By adding a 1/38" circle of Silver Glimmer paper behind the doily, I got the look I wanted........subtle glam.  You can just see the silver glimmering through the holes in the doily and around the base of the flower.  Perfect!  

Tip:  If you've never worked with Glimmer Paper before there are two things you need to know.  First, when cutting the glimmer paper in your trimmer it works better if you flip the glimmer paper over and cut on the paper backing side.  And second, Glimmer Paper doesn't stick well to other card stocks or surfaces with normal glue or sticky strip.  It adheres better when you use glue dots.

 

Well that's it for today's post.  I hope you liked it and found the instructions easy to follow.  I'd love to hear if you've every made a blunder when making a card or project and how you remedied it.  Leave me a comment if you can, it really makes my day!

Happy Stampin'
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