And now for something completely different

Maybe the title of my post is a little deceptive, since these are cards, so not completely different. But lately I've been posting a lot of projects made with the Office Accoutrement set and as much as I like that set, I thought you might be ready for a break. Tonight, as I was cleaning up my stamp room before tomorrow night's Bedlam, I found myself with a few minutes to stamp. I first stamped this card for this week's splitcoast color challenge. The challenge was to use sage shadow, basic black and real red card stock on a card. I confess this is not my favorite color combination. In fact, I typically avoid sage shadow. But I guess that's why they call it a challenge, right?

I'm actually reasonably happy with this card. I used only basic black ink, the three above mentioned colors of card stock and red grosgrain ribbon. I also limited myself to the use of one stamp set -- the Doodle That set from the Spring Mini. To give the flower a little splash of color, I actually stamped it onto red card stock and trimmed out just the top part and glued it onto the flower I stamped on the sage shadow square. It was such an easy and subtle way to perk up this otherwise plain card.


Once I stamped the first card, I decided that I really liked the layout and wanted to try making another card using the same layout and stamp set, but different colors. This time I used brocade blue, more mustard, ruby red and confetti white, colors suggested by Stampin' Up! in the demonstrator planner. In fact, this layout is also a suggestion from the demonstrator planner, which is yet another awesome tool that Stampin' Up! makes available to its demonstrators. Since I was stamping on the confetti white card stock, rather than using black ink I decided to avoid it completely. I therefore used more mustard ink to stamp the background on the more mustard card stock, and used brocade blue, ruby red and more mustard stampin' write markers to color the main image. I also distressed the edges of the ruby red panel and popped up the confetti white square on a dimensional to give the card a bit more texture.

Isn't it amazing how two cards using the same layout and the same stamp set can look so different? This is precisely why the Idea Book and Catalog is such a great source of inspiration. There are so many samples in the IBC that can be used to create unique cards just by changing the color of the card stock and ink or the stamp set used. So this week's challenge to my readers is to find a card from the Idea Book and Catalog and copy it using a different stamp set and/or different colors, but keeping the same layout. Have fun!

And be sure to come back tomorrow to see the last of the Office Accoutrement class projects -- the matchbook mini scrap-book.