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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Step Lively! (Step Center)

Hello and good morning!

Today's card is a new one for me, a Step Center Card.  The challenge (#43) is hosted by Tammy Ortiz, of Tammy's Scrappin' Corner, and I thought it would be fun to try something new and different.  I followed an excellent tutorial over on YouTube by Susanna Boyd (here), and got quite a surprise.  Here I was thinking this was going to be a tricky, time consuming card, but turns out it goes together in just a few minutes.  Really.  It's so fun, in fact, that I plan on making this part of my regular card repertoire.  Sure, it took a few minutes to cut the extra layers to go on the sides and bottom, but that's just a matter of personal preference.  You don't HAVE to.  It just looks nicer and makes the card a bit sturdier, which I need since I tend to add a lot of stuff to mine.


Kind of cool, huh?  I get the biggest thrill when I do something different, and do it right.  The colors come from the fun color challenge over at IBSIC, sage green, light purple, and blue.  The fact that they're also offering blog candy for entering the challenge just kind of "sweetens" the deal, right?

IBSIC#40
I had the light purple and blue down pat, but it took me forever to find anything resembling sage in my rather sizeable paper stash.  Finally found some in a Prima 6x6 pack (shown below in Supplies).  And I will be placing a paper order SOON.  

I colored the image with the new Copics that Santa brought me, and I paper pieced it to the blue oval, which I had stamped with the oval design and the image.  The stamens are Smooches and are a bit shimmery.

Note:  Some of the paper edges are inked, some aren't.


What took me the longest with this card was putting the papers together.  The sage was the hardest, and even though it's a very subtle print from the dp stack, I still wasn't happy with it, so I stamped it with Versamark and used SU Iridescent Ice to emboss it.  Gives a nice shimmer, which you can see a little bit here.  The main stamp set (oval, greeting, and embossing on the background paper) is from The Craft's Meow called "Lovely Ovals" and the hibiscus flower stamp is from There She Goes and is named, appropriately enough, "Hibiscus." 

Here's another view which also shows the shimmeriness of the tiny butterfly.  (Is "shimmeriness" a word?)  All butterflies were painted with Creative Inspirations paints, Tutu Pink on the lavender lovelies, Ivory on the sage.


I was still kind of bugged by the plain feeling I got with the sage, even though I layered it on top of the lavender CS.  That darned sage nearly did me in on this card, which is strange because I LOVE the color sage.  My entire living room and master bedroom are painted that color!  So I decided to add some machine stitching.




AHA!!  Perfect!!  I had finally solved the dilemma of how to dress it up just a tad with straight stitching on the three narrow panels and a curly, scallop-y stitch on the center panel.  I dug around in my button tin and found a perfect little vintage lavender button and added some white baker's twine.



Of course there had to be a bow, and I had just barely enough of my custom-dyed seam binding on hand to wrap the center panel and tie the bow.  I hope I remember how to make it again - right now I have no earthly idea which dyes I used.  For a bonus I made a quick little stick pin for the bow since I didn't have any on hand in this color scheme.

A few lavender pearls on the side panels, some smaller white pearls on the butterflies, and the card was finished.  The pile of crafting debris was enormous, but so was the satisfaction at having put together this card, the style of which I had never made before.  And in such luscious colors to boot.

Thanks for joining me today, and here's wishing you a colorful, PRETTY day!

Happy crafting!!

Supplies:

Stamps: Lovely Ovals (The Craft's Meow), Hibiscus (There She Goes)
Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Perfectly Plum, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi
Paper: Marina Mist, Whisper White (SU),Sweet Fairy (Prima), Lavendar (Flourishes)
Extras:  SB Floral Ovals and Classic Ovals Large, Copics, pearls, seam binding, vintage button, baker's twine, Iridescent Ice ep (SU), custom stick pin, Beautiful Wings Embosslits (SU), Smooches, CI paints, sewing machine

Challenges entered:

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Totally Mad (no rules) Tea Party (Anything Goes)
The Pink Elephant TPE 180 - Anything Goes
Tammy's Scrappin' Corner - Step Centre Card
Really Reasonable Ribbon RRR#63 - My New Toys (+ ribbon) (my new toys are my Copics!)
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - New Something (Copics)
SCS Ways to Use It WT 408 - New Toys
IBSIC #40 - sage green, light purple, blue
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #188 - Make Your Own Backing Paper (I stamped and embossed mine)
3 Girl JAM #9 - Anything Goes + ribbon
Drunken Stampers #112 - All That Glitters (glittery embossing on background paper, plus stick pin, which sparkles - does that count?)
Pile It On #49 - Pile On Embellishments
  
The Craft's Meow January Sketch Challenge


28 comments:

Kristie said...

Just beautiful! A true work of art! I really like step cards too and hardly think to make them. Thanks for the inspiration. Mwah!

Misty's said...

Gorgeous step card, Shea. Love the way you decorated it and the image is gorgeous too.
Michaela xx

Suzanne C said...

What a beautiful flower and lovely stair step card! Sweet design and beautiful card. Glad you joined us at Simon Says Stamp and Show.

Sindhu said...

Lovely card...you used the colours soooo well! :)

Maria said...

Wow!!! Such a stunning card! I love everything about it...so so pretty!!!

Paper Profusion said...

Gorgeous card Shea - thanks for sharing all the details and link. Nicola x

Margaret said...

Beautiful colors. Great job on the center step card. It really is easy once you get started on it and are not intimidated by it. Thanks for joining us at Tammy's Scrapin Corner for this challenge.
Margaret, DT

Migdalia said...

Stunning & Gorgeous!!

Wordbird said...

Wow! Saw this card entered in the Crafts Meow challenge and had to come see it closer. This is gorgeous! ;D

Liz Weber said...

Beautiful work Shea, love the die cut, love the pretty stamped flower and just love the whole design.

Thank you very much for sharing your work with us at IBSIC.

Anonymous said...

Your step card turned out beautifully. I love that you used a wide variety of products and techniques to get the look you were after. The sage nearly undone me too. LOL. Not sure why.

~ Kendra ~ said...

WOW, stunning center step card! LOVE it!! All the details you've put into this card is perfect!! Thanks for joining us at Inspired By Stamping Inspirational Challenge!!

Desire Fourie said...

Shea this is just soooo beautiful. Love the colouring.
Thanks for sharing your talent with us. Good luck.
Hugs
Desíre
{Tammy’s Scrapin Corner DT Member}
{Doing Life – my personal blog}

karalschuknecht said...

Your card is beautiful, it is designed and colored so well. Thanks for joining us this week for center step cards.
Karal DT for Tammy's Scrapin Corner

Lin said...

A lovely card, Shea! You worked magic with these colors! Thanks so much for playing along in our sketch challenge at The Craft's Meow!

Deb Hickman said...

Fab Step card, be the stamped image and the perfect colouring. Thanks for joining us at IBSIC. Deb x

Donna said...

Great centre step card! I love the colours (the sage and lavender are so pretty together!!) Thanks for playing along with the "All That Glitters" challenge at Drunken Stampers!

K Clark said...

thanks for joining us at Pile it on - hope to see you this week for our new challenge black/White +one :) Kimberly

Unknown said...

oh This is Beautiful.
I am so glad you tried this with us.
you did a great job.

Thank you for entering with tammy scrapin corner
hugs Tammy ortiz-Owner

carol said...

lovely card, love the shape. thanks for playing along with our challenge this week at CRAFT x carol

Sarah J Moerman said...

Beautiful card! I love the colours and design! Great details! Thanks for joining us for the Simon Says Stamp Challenge!

Paperesse said...

Beautiful, BEAUTIFUL, card!!! It has a tropical feel to it. Makes me think of lying on a beach somewhere sipping pina coladas. I guarantee whoever receives this card is going to feel very appreciated indeed.

jessica said...

Such a gorgeous card and I am such a fan of all your beautiful work!! This is stunning!!!
Thanks for sharing and playing along in our Anything Goes Challenge w/3 Girl Jam!!
Jessica
3GJ~DT

Colleen Dietrich said...

Whoa! That purple hibiscus is GORGEOUS! I love the intricately folded card, too. It has a regal presence about it.

Thank you for playing with us this week at IBS, and Happy New Year!

3 Girl JAM said...

Shea this is gorgeous! That ribbon color is beautiful! Thanks for linking up with 3 Girl JAM!

Julie
http://3girljam.blogspot.com/
http://3girljamchallenge.blogspot.com/

Cheryl Walker said...

sweet funky fold!!!thank you for joining us at Really Reasonable Ribbons Challenge :)
Hugs,
Cheryl

Decosse's Dynamite Doodles said...

Absolutely beautiful Shea. Those colours work so well together.

Lisa D.

Jen Cuthbertson said...

Oh I adore those colors you used and your coloring is amazing! Thanks so much for joining us at The Craft's Meow this month!