Birthday card with "Established Elegance"

 

I made this card one day at the home of my lovely team member Clare, AKA "Crafty Cow".  She invited a group of us over during the last weeks of the summer school holidays.   Now, Clare is absolutely 'teh awesome' when it comes to creative and funky stuff, and I think you can practically bottle the stuff in her house!  I always seem to get more done there than usual.  Clare is participating in the new craft markets in the Campbelltown area, Hummingbird Craft Markets, so if you're nearby or feel like a Sunday Drive on March 11th, why not check it out?

Back to the card, it uses the "Established Elegance" stamp set, (124966 $53.95 in woodmount, 122532 $42.95 in cling mount). I picked Bravo Burgundy as a colour I haven't used in a while, and added some layers of Soft Suede and Confetti Cream.  I used the 'Stampin Off' technique to get a selection of shades of Soft Suede on the main stamped panel layer, and I also used some Versamark and embossed with Clear powder to give a bit of a resist effect, creating a background image for the dressmakers models.  Before I forget, there's some scrunching and some misting with the lovely grungy "Log Cabin" smooch spray, (119921, $7.95) for the other layers.  And, some of my totally favourite ribbon of the moment, Crumb Cake Seam binding - 122332 $12.95 a roll behind, loosely pleated using the super sticky "Sticky Strip" tape.

The mannequins were stamped once onto the front layer, and restamped onto scraps of Confetti Cream, Soft Suede and Bravo Burgundy, so I could cut out the main sections, and give them some lift with Stampin' Dimensionals (104430 and just $7.50 for 300 plus the useful edge bits!).  Lookin pretty good...

Then, I dropped an inkpad on the card, leaving a splodge mark of ink on the cream mannequin shape. You can see a bit also on the Miss Soft Suede also, but much less obvious!  Bummer!  But, no matter, maybe that's why I love the vintage and distressed look so much, because occasions like this cease to be 'bin it' moments, and become opportunities for embellishments.  So, I decided that Cream Mannequin needed..... a scarf!   A tiny snippet of Bravo Burgundy Grosgrain, with the ends frayed, and tied off with a snip of linen thread, and she was all fixed.  In fact, dressed, and probably better than before - what do you think?

Looking at this card now, I think I could have added some of the Champagne Stampin' Glass Glitter, 120997, $7.95, but I've already given it to my dressmaking mum for her birthday!  She keeps my cards, so maybe I can sneak it on sometime?  LOL :)