Brilliant White!

In keeping with yesterday's thoughts, I've made another "not dull" card. I found a new challenge website (at least new to me) called City Crafter Challenge Blog. This week's challenge is perfect to help keep things bright and brilliant. The challenge was to make a card using white and only one other color as an accent. Hummmm...harder than it sounds because you always want to add that little extra "bling" here, you need to have some texture there. A true challenge... :o)

I have been wanting to try one of these ribbon flowers for a while now and since this card's focus was "white" this was the perfect opportunity. Here is how to make a ribbon flower...

1. Start with a punched out circle. I used my CTMH 1 1/4 inch punch.

2. Poke a hole in the center using your paper piercer (or push pin if you don't have one.)

3. Select your ribbon, I used a 15 inch length of 1 inch wide White Daisy grosgrain.

4. Very close to one of the end edges (but not so close that it pulls out) poke a brad through the ribbon and attach to the circle.

5. Begin to twist and roll the ribbon around the circle. Use mini glue dots to hold your work in place as you twist toward the outer edge of the circle.

6. Adjust your ribbon as you go making sure you don't have any edges sticking up. The twisting doesn't have to be perfect...after all, what in nature is perfect? :o)

7. When you are done, tuck your edge under the twisted ribbon to hide the ends and secure with a glue dot. You have a ribbon flower!

I mentioned early in the post, this challenge was to make a card using primarily white with only one accent color. If you look closely, you can see that the leaves and background sparkle a little. I mixed white pearl paint with 91% rubbing alcohol and misted before I attached the flower. That's my "bling." For the texture, I ran the layers through my Cuttlebug using the flourish dry embossing folder. I also misted those layers before I embossed them.

When teaching my classes, one of the most frequently asked questions is "how do you coordinate the elements of your work?" I used a very basic rule to accomplish this in my card. I selected the flourish embossing folder to mimic the twists and rolls of the flower. Next, I selected the flourish stamp to mimic both of those elements. Always remember to repeat items and shapes in your projects. This allows the eye to move around the project, avoiding confusion and misplaced elements.

Just a few more things about this card...The base is a standard A2 card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches) in CTMH White Daisy. My accent color is Pear. The flourish stamp is from "Cherished Flourishes" and the sentiment is included in the set called "Thank You." The sketch is from "Wishes." Wishes is a terrific sketch book penned by Jeanette Lynton, the founder of Close To My Heart. Here is the card again...

My thanks to City Crafter Challenge Blog for a great challenge...I shall be back. For Now, Happy Crafting!