sentiment-al Paper Playtime

I'm so excited about this week's challenge at Paper Playtime which is to stamp a sentiment.  Not only does it promise lots of variety but I already have a project I can share.  Yay!!  I often have trouble finding inspiration for any given challenge until a few days after it's finished and that was the case for the Close To My Heart consultants blog hop featuring the February stamp of the month Home Sweet Home BUT I happened to be playing with this stamp last night and came up with a card I liked.  Not having any particular use in mind for it, I tucked it into my stash but now I can pull it back out and share it.  :-)

All products are from CTMH.  I started with some scraps I had from the Dakota paper kit and the Log Cabin pattern featured in "Originals" by Jeanette Lynton.  I trimmed the pieces to size and then I used the Artiste cartridge to cut the center shape.  I inked the edges and stamped the center image using Pacifica ink, being careful not to get any ink on the "YOU" at the bottom.  I then cleaned my stamp and let it dry, and then I used Barn Red for the "YOU," again just inking the part I needed.  Some of the versions I've seen of this card feature hinges or some other point of interest where the papers meet but I chose to use stars from the Typeset workshop on the go (retired) stamped in Whisper.

Once I was done I realized how well this card might work for my stepfather's birthday card this week so I played around with the same elements but I ended up using the Perfect Fit-Frames 2 and Perfect Fit-Birthday stamp sets.  I really liked this particular shape from the PF frames but the pattern on the stamped image ended up being a little busy against the red/blue patterned paper so I used the BACK of the stamp and generously inked it with Pacifica using a slightly twisting motion.  I *really* like how this turned out, it gave the image enough subtle shading and texture that I thought it looked like denim, and the more solid color not only tied in the patterned papers and put the focus on the sentiments.  The only issue was that when I used the back of the stamp it left a slightly off-centered opening for the sentiment but that was easily solved by adding a little circular frame of silver shimmer paper, which I cut with the Art Philosophy cartridge.

Happy crafting!  Annette