not-so-easy adventure

Paper Players Challenge #93 - Tic Tac Toe seemed like it was really going to come together for me this evening - you know, one of those cards that nearly makes itself?  Over at Less is More, Chrissie & Mandi have given us a perfect square sketch, Stamping 411 has suggested a perfect spring colors palette, and I was inspired to use emboss resist by this beautiful card my friend, Buffy, made.  I failed at embossing, though, and my attempts to recover didn't work well, either.  So, I decided my center square choice would be sponging, and started over.  That was better, but I stamped the edge of the image inside the square, leaving one leaf cut off, and trimming the square was either going to remove the flower from the top or the "grass" sponging from the bottom, so that effort followed the first into the trash.  In spite of some slightly uneven inking, I will be calling the third attempt "good enough":

stamp set - My Friend; ink - Island Indigo, So Saffron, Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz; card stock - Whisper White, Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz; Stampin' Dimensionals, stamping sponge

Just before I attached the focal point, I thought perhaps I should check the card size by actually inserting it into the envelope; sure enough, I had measured incorrectly and had to trim the base card, so the center square seems a little oversize compared to the sketch. <sigh>

Yesterday was a better day - while playing with Lesley's Merry Monday sketch I made a second card (see yesterday's post for the first one):

card stock - Sahara Sand textured, Old Olive, Early Espresso; designer series paper - Letters to Santa; punch - Decorative Label; Big Shot with Scallop Rectangle Clearlit; Stampin' Dimensionals

Although the stamps in the designer series paper aren't exactly the same size as the scalloped rectangle Clearlit, I was able to align two opposing corners on two passes through the Big Shot to cut them nearly perfectly.  The smaller stamp at the bottom of the design just fit on one Decorative Label punch.  The nutcracker stamp is adhered to one full punch with a second punch, cut in half, added at the sides.

This Letters to Santa designer series paper and *all* textured card stock are retiring this month, and supplies are limited - if you would like to get some before they're gone, ordering online is your best option - you can click the "order" circle to the right to go directly to my Stampin' Up! online store.