Friday, June 26, 2009

Finishing Details

Have you been to Becky Fleck's Page Maps site? Becky creates some absolutely fantastic sketches for scrapbook layouts and cards. I pulled this sketch from the archives. This is a sketch from December 2007. I had printed out the page some time ago, said I was going to pick one and use it, but never did. Know what I'm talking about? Ever done that? Well, I finally, just decided to buckle down and complete the whole project from selecting a sketch to complete design.
My friend, Amy, gave me some Close to My Heart clear acrylic shapes. It was a variety pack that had these two brackets which I thought would work great for a masculine card. I used my copic airbrush set with my compressor that my sweet husband and sons gave me for Mother's Day to color the clear brackets this rich brown. I need to use up my abundant supply of SU Baja Breeze CS and coordinating patterned papers so I can make room for the new in-colors, so I decided to use it here. I imitated the brackets with a Fiskars border punch.
Now I really liked this, but I kept thinking it didn't pop. I decided it needed some matting in a contrasting color. Everything was glued down pretty good, so I completed a whole new card with the same materials and sketch.

I didn't have another pair of brackets. Therefore, I dusted off my Cricut and pulled out some PTI clear cardstock and cut out another set of brackets. I airbrushed them just like I had the other pair and recreated the sketch. This time I added a Chocolate Chip mat behind the main image and used chocolate chip to create a mat for the border, too. I went with blue brads this time, but otherwise it's pretty much the same card. It just "pops" a little more now!
Project Supplies
Paper: SU Whisper White CS, SU Chocoloate Chip CS, SU Baja Breeze CS, SU Parisian Breeze PP
Stamps: SU Congrats (Sale-abrations)
Accessories: CTMH Clear Shapes, PTI Clear Cardstock, Cricut, Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, copic airbrush kit, compressor, copic marker E65, Paper Studio brads, Fiskars Upper Crest border punch