The little things that make me happy here on Bliss Road~~Emily Keaton

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Stampin' B's Halloween Challenge

It's Thursday--time for another challenge from the Stampin' B's Design Team!! This week Vicky G. is challenging us to make a Halloween card, but this is a Halloween card with a twist--NO BLACK or ORANGE!! Here's what I came up with. (And just for the record, that mat under the top purple layer is GOLD, kind of a goldenrod sort-of-color, not orange. In real life, it's clearly not orange, but something got lost in the translation in the photo. Sorry!)

I've got to say, though, that this was harder than I thought it would be!! At first, I was thinking, "No problem! I'll just use green and purple. Perfect!" But I found that I kept wanting to reach for some kind of black--black ink for my stamped images, black thread for my stitching, . . . you know how it goes. I even got tripped up when I was adding my brads. After peeking at my Halloween brads, and purposely avoided the candy corn one ('cause it's got orange, don't ya know!!), I spotted the perfect brad to go with this card's theme--a fun spider!! I added it between two purple brads and called it a day. Later, I was showing my family what I came up with for this challenge, explaining that it was to make a Halloween card with no black or orange. My astute 7YO DS immediately piped up, saying, "But, Mom!! What about that black spider brad? You can't use that!!" Ugh!! He was SO right. I didn't even catch it!! Good thing I showed my family or my card would be in total violation right now LOL! :) My quick fix was to swap out the cute {black} spider for a metallic green brad.

This is not my favorite card. I had some great ideas for putting it together, but once all of the different elements were ready and I assembled them, it was kind of a let down. It doesn't have the impact I thought it would. Maybe because it has a less than strong focal point? I'm not sure. But when I was showing it to my family, my dear hubby warmed my heart when he told me he thought I'd been very clever--the vertical panels reminded him of striped wallpaper like you'd find in a creepy old Victorian {haunted} house. Just what I needed to hear! Got to love a man who can serve up a slice of happy :)

Challenges:
I hope you've been inspired to play along with the Stampin' B's!! If you do make a card, post it on your blog or SCS gallery, and link it up to the Inlinkz tool on the Stampin' B's blog. We'd love to see what you create!! :) And now I'm off to see what my fellow Bs made for this intriguing challenge. Can't wait to see everyone's creative approach . . .

Card Recipe:
Stamps: The Angel Company (spider background--retired), SU Party Punch, Studio G (spider and web)
Paper: card stock scraps--all from The Paper Company, I think
Ink: Palette belle rose, chartreuse, violette, lavender sachet + ColorBox frost white
Accessories: SU round tab punch, white EP, heat tool, foam tape, sewing machine, brads
Techniques: machine stitching, embossing, backkground stamping

15 comments:

Mandy said...

Oh, what fun colors for a Halloween card! Love it!

Colleen Dietrich said...

Oh, wow, I am here before Marisa -- a miracle! She always gets here first. :)

I like your husband's thoughts on striped wallpaper. Now I see that too! ANd very good of Joel to point out your 'flawed' card element. That made me laugh!

The no black/orange truly IS a challenge, but I like what you came up with. It wasn't easy, but you still managed to be queen of combining challenges!!

de said...

Love how this came together even though its not your fav! I like it! You did a great job combining challenges!

Thanks for playing EtsyInspired this week!

Kerry said...

Very cute Halloween card! I love those itty bitty spiders all over the background panels! Thanks for playing in the Etsy Inspired Challenge and for visiting my shop!

~Tammy~ said...

Lovely use of the colors! Thanks for joining in the fun and playing along with us at OTWC and Good luck! :-)

Tenia Nelson said...

This card is super duper rad!!!! Thanks for playing at OTWC and good luck!!!

Vicki Dutcher said...

Wonderful sewing! Thanks for playing with Speedy's Friends!

Virgo5 said...

What a fun Halloween challenge, nicely done!

Lynn McAuley said...

More delightful stitching!! Thanks, Emily, for sharing this fun Halloween creation in Speedy's challenge!

redwasher1 said...

Fabulous!! I would have had a hard time not using black or orange! You make it look easy!
Thanks for playing along with us at SF.

Joanne Travis said...

Love the palette of colors used here and the little spiders on each panel. Sweet!

Ann said...

What a fun card! Love the color combo! Thanks for playing with us EBTKS girls!

Anita said...

Well, it would be hard to create a Halloween card with no black or orange...but you've done an exceptional job! I love the colors you chose Emily. It's a fantastic Halloween card.

Winter said...

Cute card! I love the colors! Thanks so much for joining us in the EBTKS challenge! :)

Benzi said...

I had to go back and take another look after I read what you DH said..he is on to something. This was a perfect card for the Stampin B challenge, which truly was a challenge for me.