Thanks--MFT Idol Contest, Week 4

[Don't forget to vote for your favorite Idol contestant (hopefully me!) from 10pm EDT tonight, April 7th until 10pm EDT tomorrow night April 8th! You'll find the poll here.]

It's getting tougher!!! I was mentioning how I wish we would all downsize our projects a bit since the contestants are all creating such AWESOME projects and I didn't know how much longer I could keep up, LOL. Well, I think this is a case of "be careful what you wish for--you might get it!" This week's challenge is to make JUST a card. BUT (you knew there had to be a BUT, didn't you?), we had to use a specific stamp set--Build a Bouquet (had been sent to us by Kim, so I knew it was coming sooner or later, LOL). That's it--use that set. And it's one of those "build it" sets that I'm usually not fond of, BUT (another BUT), me and this set became good friends during the making of this card. I'll be going back to it again, I'm sure, because I really like what you can do with this set.

OK, on to the card. My base card is 6" x 6"Whisper White with a layers of Basic Black, Pink Passion, and DP from a 6 x 6 pad by Black Market Paper Society called Ebony & Alabaster. The corners of the DP are punched with my Ticket Corner punch and there's a black jewel on the Pink Passion in each corner, then I tied a sheer black ribbon around and tied it in a bow. The focal image (although the flowers steal the show, IMO!) and sentiment are from MFT Behind the Scenes set and was stamped on Whisper White with Basic Black ink. It was then cut/embossed with an oval Nestabilities die and is matted with Pink Passion and Basic Black done the same way. Small black jewels accent each end and it's up on 3M foam squares. The flowers. Ah, the flowers. Each one was stamped two to three times with different shades of ink, cut out, stacked, and "fluffed" a little for added dimension. I've included a close up picture and one from the side to show the layers. They took quite a bit of time but I love them! Some look like asters and some remind me of columbines. Two of the styles reminded me of SU!'s Fresh Cuts note cards so I cut the centers and bent them up a little. The center "brads" are actually designer THUMB TACKS that I found at Office Max. Love 'em!! I cut the tack part off and attached them with Crystal Effects. Perfect!!! I love how they work with this DP. I stamped one of the flowers in two shades of green, too, to use as a leafy base under the flowers, and some single leaves, as well. Then I arranged and attached the flowers with 3M foam squares, adding the single leaves where I needed them to fill in. This ended up being a really fun project, although I wasn't sure it was going to be much fun when we got the challenge, LOL. Thanks to the MDT team for making me think outside of the box! My color inspiration initially came from a co-workers scrub top--it has a black background and lots of flowers that resemble the stamps in bright colors. But when I browsed through SCS Inspiration Challenge site on Saturday and saw this, my fate was sealed, LOL!

Thanks for dropping by!

Don't forget to vote for your favorite Idol contestant (hopefully me!) from 10pm EDT tonight, April 7th until 10pm EDT tomorrow night April 8th! You'll find the poll here.

~Recipe~
Stamps: Build a Bouquet, Setting the Stage (MFT)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Pink Passion (SU!); Ebony & Alabaster (Black Market Paper Society)
Ink: Basic Black, Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Pretty In Pink, Elegant Eggplant, Pale Plum, Lovely Lilac, Taken With Teal, Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun, So Saffron, Only Orange, Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss (SU!)
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Oval Nestabilities; 3M foam squares, ribbon, black jewels (craft store); Ticket Corner punch, Crystal Effects (SU!), thumb tacks (Office Max); craft knife, scissors