Thinking of You with Simply Elegant Specialty Designer Series Paper

I planned to use a panel of the Simply Elegant Specialty Designer Series Paper with Basic Black, Basic Gray and Very Vanilla leaves to make a Halloween card for you today. The dark colors on this gorgeous page could easily be used to make a spooky, yet sophisticated, project, but I couldn’t escape the elegance of this paper. The more and more I worked with it, the more my card NEEDED to be a “thinking of you” card. Here’s my card:

The layout of my card was inspired by the sketch in this week’s Fusion challenge. I had been playing with these elements all week but couldn’t decide on a final layout or color scheme. Here’s the challenge that inspired my card:

While I like to play along with both the sketch and inspiration photo in Fusion challenges, I was only inspired by this fun layout (the left photo). As you can see, I flipped the sketch from a portrait layout to a horizontal one and then scooched my sentiment (from the amazing Thinking Thanks & Peace stamp set) over to the right a bit.

I mean, really. How gorgeous is the panel of leaves that builds the panels on my card?! The Simply Elegant Specialty Designer Series Paper features 12 designs on 6 pages (2 each of each page for a total of 12). One side of each page features foil designs – even though this one does not, it’s my absolute favorite page in the pack. Here’s a look at the colors and patterns in the Simply Elegant Specialty Designer Series Paper:

I played with several layouts and measurements before I arrived at these elements, which I think are balanced well on my card. Here are the measurements of the layers on my card, starting with the card base and working my way up to the sentiment:

• Crumb Cake – 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ (scored at 4-1/4″)
• Basic Gray – 5-1/2″ x 3″
• Stampin’ Dimensionals
• Thick Very Vanilla – 4-7/8″ x 1-1/4″ and 4-7/8″ x 2-1/4″
• Simply Elegant Specialty Designer Series Paper – 4-3/4″ x 1-1/8″ and 4-3/4″ x 2-1/8″
• Stampin’ Dimensionals
• Thick Very Vanilla – cropped with the largest of the Layering Circles Dies

Before I popped up the two panels on the face of my card, I knew I’d have a challenge getting them perfectly balanced on my card. So… I positioned the layers how I wanted them (lined up on the ends and with a consistent space between them) and added a strip of Post-It Tape to connect the panels. I then added Stampin’ Dimensionals to the two panels and positioned them on my card. Because the panels are connected, I could perfectly center them on my card:

I love the Basic Black, Basic Gray and Very Vanilla colors in this page of the Simply Elegant Specialty Designer Series Paper. I added Crumb Cake to make them even warmer. If you like this mix of Crumb Cake, Basic Gray and Basic Black as much as I do, I hope you’ll save this for future reference:

Stamp Sets: Thinking Thanks & Peace  Papers: Simply Elegant Specialty Designer Series Paper, Crumb Cake, Basic Gray, Thick Very Vanilla  Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black  Accessories: Layering Circles Dies, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Thinking Thanks & Peace Cling Stamp Set (English) – 156552

Price: $22.00

Simply Elegant 12″ X 12″ (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper – 155761

Price: $15.00

Layering Circles Dies – 151770

Price: $35.00

Crumb Cake 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock – 120953

Price: $8.75

Basic Gray 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock – 121044

Price: $8.75

Very Vanilla 8-1/2″ X 11″ Thick Cardstock – 144237

Price: $8.25

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad – 132708

Price: $6.00

Stampin’ Dimensionals – 104430

Price: $4.00

I hope you’ll pop over to the Fusion Card Challenge site to see the cards by the design team members and to play along with this week’s challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brian

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