It Wasn't Easy
March 09, 2017
Today is Thursday which means it's time for the Create with Connie and Mary Challenge! Yes, it is a color challenge. Between you and me I both love and hate the color challenges. The weird thing is I probably like and dislike them for the same reasons. I love that it forces me to stretch and use colors I am not comfortable with and I dislike that I have to roam far out of my color comfort zone. It is exciting trying to find the right stamps, dies, and accessories in just the right colors and proportions to work with the challenge. Yes, it is often hard to do. I know the good far outweighs the bad and I am thankful to be a part of the Thursday Challenge design team.
Are you ready to see the colors for this week's challenge?
Love to know what you think of these colors. Let's just say when i saw it my first thoughts were not, that's so pretty. I do love Pool Party and Chocolate Chip together but Smoky Slate? I will tell you now that I love the finished card and might even use this combination again.
I have been asked to share how I come up with the designs for my card. The design for this card was pretty straightforward. On my desk I keep a small basket of stamps, accessories, dies etc that haven't been used enough. The key for me is just a few things, too many items feel overwhelming. In this week's basket I had the Detailed Floral Thinlits. I knew the Chocolate Chip and Pool Party would look great together and I thought well maybe if I threw in the Smoky Slate here and there it just might work.
What do you think? Doesn't the Smoky Slate almost look lavender? Oh my, I was so happy! Now let me tell you that this is not a quick and easy card. My suggestion is to put on some relaxing music or in my case an audiobook and get to work. Here's a quick rundown of what I did.
1. Chocolate Chip CS (4" x 5-1/4" ). Place the Detailed Floral thinlits so there is an even border around the edge. Run through the Big Shot.
2. Layer on to a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of Pool Party CS.
3. Run the dies through the Big Shot using Smoky Slate CS. In my case I ended up having to do this twice. I lost some of the pieces.
4. Glue in the Smoky Slate pieces. If I were to do this again, I would pick big pieces to fill in with the Smoky Slate CS and not small very detailed pieces like the flowers.
5. Tie a bow using the 3/8" Pool Party Stitched Satin ribbon.
6. I wanted an embossed sentiment so it would stand out on the Pool Party CS. I didn't have any Chocolate Chip embossing powder so I improvised. Ink the stamp in VersaMark, then in to the Chocolate Chip ink, and then heat emboss using Clear Embossing powder.
7. Layer on to a Pool Party card base (5-1/2" x 8-1/2") and add some pearls.
I am going to play with other color combinations of this card and will share them. I hope you will join in the challenge. For all the details go to the Create with Connie and Mary blog. While you are there be sure to check out what the other design team members created. They are all brilliant.
Thanks again for stopping by.
Such a stunning card Sharon! I love it!
Posted by: Marelle Taylor | March 09, 2017 at 02:43 AM
Amazingly gorgeous! Love what you came up with for that color combo! Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful creations!
Posted by: Cherie Gibson | March 09, 2017 at 06:53 PM
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! The inlaid die is such a classy look!
Posted by: Jenny Engelke | March 09, 2017 at 09:41 PM
Gasp!!! This is gorgeous!! I can't wait to make one myself!
Posted by: Emily | March 09, 2017 at 10:07 PM
Thanks Marelle!
Posted by: Sharon Hashimoto Burkert | March 10, 2017 at 11:58 AM
Thanks Cherie. I was a little worried when I first saw the color combination. It was a happy accident that the Detailed Floral thinlit was also on my desk at the time. Thank you for stopping by.
Posted by: Sharon Hashimoto Burkert | March 10, 2017 at 12:00 PM
Thanks Jenny! I was happy with the end result. The floor of my craft room was littered with lots of tiny scraps of Smoky Slate and Chocolate Chip card stock.
Posted by: Sharon Hashimoto Burkert | March 10, 2017 at 12:02 PM
Thanks Emily! My suggestion would be to use the Stretch and Seal technique to help keep the tiny pieces of card stock in place. This might prevent you from having to cut the die out multiple times, like I did. Thank you for stopping by!
Posted by: Sharon Hashimoto Burkert | March 10, 2017 at 12:03 PM
You were spot on using this die with the colors. So untraditional, but so fabulous! Wonderful execution this week Sharon!
Posted by: Jennifer Downey | March 10, 2017 at 05:59 PM
Wow it's beautiful Sharon. I love the inlaid Smoky Slate. really clever idea
Posted by: Tracy May | March 12, 2017 at 03:42 PM
Beautiful! What a happy surprise to see how very well Smoky Slate compliments Pool Party and Chocolate Chip.
Posted by: Dana M | March 16, 2017 at 03:16 PM