Makeover Monday....

So, I have a little confession to make.  Some of you already know what I'm about to tell you, and to some, you'll be shocked!!!  What's my secret?  Well, I'm infatuated with another stamp company and it's designers.  I'm obsessed!  I love most things Papertrey Ink.  There. I said it.  Are you happy??  In fact, I love PTI and their designers so much that I often find myself jealous!  I love their stamp sets.  I love the designs.  Their designers just rock my world.  Dawn McVey, Betsy Veldman, Maile Belles, Lisa Johnson, and of course! Nicole Heady!!!  I keep a file on my computer of cards that I love and I have to admit that most of the file consists of cards by these fab ladies.  However, being in love with PTI is NOT good for my business.  I really do try and resist purchasing things from them.  Now, that's not saying that I haven't, or that I won't buy certain things from them, I just don't want it to get out of control.  So, what am I getting at???  Well, my love for these gals' creativity and my jealousy to own all things PTI got my brain storming.  I can't always justify buying PTI stamps (or any other company for that matter), and so I need to look to SU to find similar stamps of theirs and then CASE (Copy and steal everything).  That leads me to this new little segment I'd like to start - Makeover Monday.  Each Monday I'm going to take a card from my file and make it over using Stampin' Up! products.  Now, there may be times that I'll have to sneak in some other products - like dies or something, but my goal is to stick to SU only!!!  We'll see how I do!

The first card on my line up - one by Dawn McVey.  She's a peach - I love her blog, and find her work pure inspiration!  She's got it going on!  Her style is pretty clean and simple, and she does wonders when it comes to layering dies.  The card I opted for here is one she actually did for her Studio Calico design team.  I'll be honest, sometimes I feel that the Studio Calico designs she does is a little more busy than her typical vibrant work, but none-the-less, this one pulled at my heart strings.  Here is her card:

And this is what I came up with - using only Stampin' Up! things that I have on hand!

Sorry for the poor lighting in this picture.  Not sure what happened here.  My card isn't as bright as her's, but I still like it anyway.  It was a little difficult to come up with a replica for several reasons, but when I CASE, I don't always want it to be exact. 

So let's disect this card shall we? 

First off, I used textured Very Vanilla cardstock for my cardbase.  Then I grabbed some paper from the Everyday Enchantment DSP pack (go figure-eh?) and heat embossed Hello in pewter from the Elementary Elegance stamp set - another SAB item!  For the ruler border that Dawn used, I opted for some Early Espresso taffeta ribbon.  I picked this one, because when I started the card, I smooched the base with Log Cabin Smooch.  I wasn't thrilled with how it sprayed on this card, but you know what, I think that's something I just have to get over.  It'll never spray just the way I want it to.  Is anyone else hoping that SU comes up with many more smooch colors??? I like it, but I really like how Dawn usually gets just a couple of drops on her cards and not a big spray.  I need to play more.  I then did mix up some of my own smooch with Frost White shimmer paint, Pool Party reinker and a bit of water.  I must not have mixed it well enough, because I can see that the paint settled to the middle???  More practice!  I applied the dots by dipping an old paint brush into the bottle and letting it just drip onto the card.  I really like this method as it/s a little cleaner looking.  Will practice a bit more with this. 

For the flower, I started with a base of Crumb Cake that was cut with the new Framelits Label die.  I stamped that with one of the circles in Circle Circus, using Whisper White Ink.  The flower was cut from First Edition with a couple of dies - The very back layer and the top layer were from the Blossom Pary die, and the center scallop was from Scalloped Circle #2.  I could have just used my punch, as they are pretty much the same.  I used a sponge dauber the apply some Poppy Parade ink to each layer. I took my bone folder to curl up the edges and then stacked them together.  I put a cute little button from the Twitterpated buttons in the center.  The leaves are cut from the Build a Blossom punch - I used Nursery Neccesities Dsp.  I think that's the DSP???? 

It was really a quick card to create - in fact, I was able to make four of them at once.  Each a little different b/c of the smooch spray variations!

So what do you think?  Do you think you'll enjoy this segment on my blog? If there is anything you'd like to see me makeover, send me an email, I'd be glad to give it a shot!

That's all for today...enjoy!