MY CARD for Card Sketch Challenge #5 & TIPS!

This is my card for the current card sketch challenge (click here for the challenge post).

I can't find my OTT light so I had to take this one outside to photograph. BOY! It sure makes it look brighter than really it is - to me eyes anyway!

I cheated a bit and omitted a layer (my design didn't need another base layer) and instead of stitching the card I used stitched ribbon. The funny thing about the ribbon is that I took it off the Prima packaging for the flowers. I save ALL ribbon that comes into my house! Do you do that?

I started off with a dark brown Bazzills 6x6 card base and added some Rob & Bob Studio scraps that fit perfectly with my "soft masculine" theme. I added a brown button and some blue gingham ribbon - threaded with my trusty floss threader!

TIP: If you need to thread ribbon through button holes or an eyelet then use a plastic floss threader. My daughter used to wear braces and I have tons of them. I even have a package in my tool kit that I take with me to classes and hand out to my students.

Here's a side view of the card. I was worried it was going to be too bulky but it's not bad.

I didn't add a greeting or salutation to this card but may add that later to the upper right hand side when I find something that is suitable. For now it is an "all occasion" card.

So to add some "stamping" to this card I stamped a flourish on the flower in chocolate chip ink.

I just picked up this stamp set called Pollen Dust by Fancy Pants. It has some great accent stamps in this set.

The only trouble is the the one I wanted to use - the biggest stamp in the set - is so big that I don't have an acylic block for it. Now I know you can use the back of your Stampin' Up! stamps with acrylics and this stamp would probably fit on my background stamps - you know the part that has the sticker on it - but that defeats the purpose of using acrylic stamps! I like to see where I'm stamping especially on something like my ONLY blue flower!

So here's my next tip....

TIP: As I said in an earlier post I've been saving plastic packaging for die cutting accents. Guess what? I have a sturdy piece of plastic that is the perfect size for this stamp! It's actually better than an acrylic block because it's flexible and that's just perfect for stamping on something that has a bit of texture or dimension like flowers!

Now got get stamping and show me your version of my current sketch challenge!