Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #152

These days I find myself in the enviable position of having more stamps than time! I've had this stamp set for a while, and had planned to play along with the last sketch from TE, but ran out of time, so I was determined to get a card done this go round.

I love TE's Animals in Love series and received a couple of them about a month ago. I thought the whales were perfect for this sketch. All the papers are from CTMH's retired You & Me kit. I've slowly been whittling away at those papers with a bit of a heavy heart because once they're gone, they're gone, but I just couldn't not use them on this one.

The sentiment is from Clear and Simple Stamps Love Cupid set which I received from CSS just last week (many thanks to CSS!). I thought it was just perfect for the image.

It's a pretty simple card, I really didn't deviate from the sketch at all. The stamped image is completely pieced using the You & Me papers. The ovals were cut using CM's custom cutting system. I had planned to use chocolate cardstock for the oval mat, but it didn't look warm enough, so I ended up using Vineyard Berry which I toned down using a sponge dauber with chocolate ink around the edges.

The sentiment is stamped on a 1/2" wide piece of cardstock. The center portion is 1 3/4". I scored on both ends of that center portion, and then at another 1/2" to create the fold. To pop it out, I glued the strip together where that 1/2" overlaps beneath the center portion on each side. Then, when I adhered the entire sentiment strip to the card, I only put adhesive on the ends, and not the center portion. This allows you to move the ends in a smidge so that the center doesn't lie flat. You can play with it and get more, or less, arc in that center piece depending on your personal preference. I also used the sponge dauber with chocolate ink to add some definition to the edges of the sentiment strip. Here's a close up that hopefully shows what I just tried to explain.



Just a couple more days to the weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock: Kraft, Colonial White, Vineyard Berry, You & Me Kit
Stamps: Taylored Expressions - Animals in Love - Whales, Clear and Simple Stamps - Love Cupid
Ink: Cocoa, Chocolate
Other: Kraft borders, Sponge Dauber, Creative Memories custom cutting system