Clean & Simple

How are you today?  We are still recovering from the stomach flu at our house.  I have never seen my little Alex so quiet, so still, so pleasant???  :)  The poor little guy is on his third day of being down and out and that is just so unlike him.  Usually he's in time-out at least 10 times/day and talks constantly.  Seriously.  Constantly.  Will and Aubrie have sprung back to "normal", and Andy seems to be on his way back - well, he's lipping off to me again, so he must be feeling better!  I'm still escaping the evil bug, but my stomach has been churning since Friday.  I'll keep my fingers crossed to elude this nastiness.

So, how about another sketch challenge today?  Are you tired of them yet?  I have to tell you - I do best working off of a sketch, and I don't do so well with Color Challenges.  In fact, I have a book of sketches that I've been accumulating for quite some time.  Most sketches are from Clean and Simple, Taylored Expressions and Karen Giron.  Recently I added a whole bunch from My Favorite Things.  I've never participated in their challenges, but do like their sketches.  In the front of my sketch book is a "color board" of my fave color combos to work with.  However, I do best working with the colors in a patterened paper.  That was kinda how I came up with today's card.

I went pretty literal with this card.  I really liked how SU used the butterfly with the embossing on the cover of the Sale-A-Bration catty, that I wanted to do something like that.  And I am loving how this card tured out.  I realy like the minimal colors - Pure Poppy and Very Vanilla with that small touch of black.  I had to use the black (Black Craft ink + Black Embossing Powder) in order for the sentiment to show and not get lost in all that pattern.  Doesn't this kind of remind you of those red and white quilts or needle work items???

  Wondering about my scalloped rectangle?  I created that with the new Adorning Accents Dies.  It was pretty simple - I cut my paper to 4 x 5, then cut one side with the die (use a little masking tape to keep the die from moving), then I cut the top, lining up the die just right with the last whole scallop.  Then I worked my way around.  Maybe I should do a video on this to ease verbal/typed instructions???!!!  Anyway, it wasn't difficult to figure out, and it helps that the SU edge dies have the cutting edge right at the edge of the die so you can tell exactly where it will cut.

What do you think of my card??? Let's hear your thoughts!