Lesson Learned from the Featured Stamper

Set 240 - Holy Triptych

Here is my card for today's SplitCoast featured stamper challenge.

This is a VERY different type of card for me.  When I started to browse Angela's gallery I was immediately taken with the vivid patterned papers that she uses.  I tend toward solid cardstock or basic tone-on-tone paper - as I have always believed that basic paper makes the image the star.  But Angela's gallery proved me wrong as her images remain the highlight of the card and are completely complemented by her paper choices.

So I started to CASE this card.  I changed colors, images and card shape.  But my first attempt was really, really bad.  If you are familiar with this stamp set, you know that there is a tag that fits around the images.  The tag has flourishes in one corner to highlight the image.  I used that tag around my image on my first attempt.  I plopped it on my card and it was overwhelming...overwhelmingly bad!

So I went back to her gallery and studied it for awhile - the answer is quite simple.  When you use vivid, strongly patterned paper - make sure your images are surrounded by a lot of white space (or crumb cake space!).  My tag took away the white space and my image got lost. Check out her gallery - lots and lots of white space - and her cards look great!!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Holy Triptych, Verve Winter Wonder (sentiment)
• Paper: K&CO Alleghany Plum, Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Black
• Ink: Memento Black
• Copics: E50, V12, V15, V17, B02, B06, YG23, E57
• Accessories: Martha Stewart Glittering Glue and Crystal Fine Glitter, Nestabilities label, tag punch, Stampin' Up Razzleberry button (from brights collection), Stampin' Up Clear Tinsel, misc black satin ribbon