By a stroke of luck I was able to step in as a guest designer for the Clean And Simple (CAS) challenge on Splitcoast. This week’s challenge (cas177) is a color challenge: Navy, Olive, and White.

As I was perusing my stamp index, the new feather set by StampinUp caught my eye – and I thought worked well with the color challenge. My theme was chosen because I needed a card for a friend who recently lost an elderly dog.

I’m not sure peacock feather really says bereavement, but I do think the “feel” of this card works.

When inking the sentiment, I knew the “y” would hang down and you wouldn’t be able to read the rest (and I didn’t want to change the layout or color placement). So I stamped the second part of the sentiment first and masked it off. Then I stamped the So Sorry in full strength and removed the mask. Next, I reinked the So Sorry (actually just the “ry” at the end), but stamped off – and used a stamp positioner to stamp the sentiment again. Finally, I went back over the line between dark and light with a blender pen to help smooth it to a better gradient.

And one final note. The pattern paper I chose has a distinct pattern to it. I trimmed a bit to use on the card, but when I positioned it, the pattern felt to happy. I turned the paper in the opposite direction (hiding more of the “distinct pattern”) and it looked more random and didn’t detract from the card. I will definitely try turning patterns around if things don’t feel right again – just to see…you never know!

Thanks for stopping by!