CARDMAKING: From CONCEPT to REALITY, Article 2

A few months ago, my husband and I were in a frenzy, trying to ready the house for out-of-state company. It had literally been YEARS since anyone had come to visit us. (We’re usually the ones doing the traveling!). And since I hardly EVER spend any time on interior decorating or “accessorizing” our home, it was definitely time for some updating.

One of the activities I set about doing was to find some new bedding ensembles for our master bedroom and the guest room. Of course, being a little hard to please, I ended up going to beau coups department stores and wading through numerous online and printed catalogues, before I found something that I thought would work for us.

Eventually, I did find a lovely duvet cover and matching shams and sheets for our master bedroom, in a design and colors that BOTH my husband and I loved . . . . . which is a feat in and of itself!

I liked the fabric design SO much, in fact, that I decided to use it as an "inspiration" piece for a new handmade card. Here’s a photo swatch of the fabric design from our new duvet cover . . . . .

The color combination of salmon and blue has long been a favorite of mine, and I always enjoy creating new paper piecings, so once again, I was all fired up for a new card project.

First of all, I started with a background "canvas" of a 5" X 7" piece of white textured Bazzill, which I glued to the front of a pre-folded cardstock base which I use for all my cards.

Then I dragged out my large and medium sized circle punches, my deckle edged and regular scissors, some scraps of textured Bazzill in a peachy shade and medium shade of orange and a dusky blue, and went to work punching and cutting. One thing led to another, as they say, and the flower just kept getting bigger and bigger! And then, of course, it needed a stem and some leaves........so MORE cutting.

Several hours and many layers and glue dots later. . . . . . here’s what I ended up with . . . .

It just so happens that some of my fellow cardmaker friends and I were having a card challenge around this time, and the theme of the challenge was to “make a 'wild' card” . . . . . . hence I named this creation “Wild Flower”. . . . . .and it has turned out to be yet another example of how a card design evolved from CONCEPT to REALITY.

Until we meet again . . . . . . May your days be wildly wonderful!