Dippin' Into The Stash

Ever since I bought this sentiment, I've had this card in my head. Tonight - it met paper!

This was a major dive into The Stash, and yes, I am very proud. The dog is part of an Emerson stamp I have had for a month or two; I just inked him without the sentiment that accompanies his image.

The patterned paper has been sitting on top of a pile of other papers in The Other Room for about 6 months, so tonight it got used! At first I was planning to use it for a manly card, but I thought it would a nice touch with the dog, and I really liked the blue in the pattern - I chose Not Quite Navy to use with it. In real life (as opposed to my photo) it is a very close match.

The ribbon is from my last LSS shopping extravaganza, and the brads are from my "must have them all" purchase from SU a month or two ago, trying to fill out my brad collection.

Let's take a moment and talk about the ribbon. I have learned a valuable lesson this evening about printed ribbon, especially printed ribbon with a definite 'top' and 'bottom' to the pattern. I use mostly side-agnostic ribbons (is that even right?)...you know what I am trying to say ... ribbon that does not care if you turn it upside down or inside out when you tie it. Well, that is not this ribbon.

THIS is this ribbon. Obviously, if you want the words to show, you have to tie it right, right?

Here is attempt #1. I threaded the ribbon around the card stock with the words sitting right-side up, thinking that it was the correct thing to do. Nope, at least not how *I* tie knots. I even tried tying it upside down, to no avail. So I turned the ribbon over and tried it again.

Much better! Unfortunately, to get this, I had to do .....

this. I guess it needed to be upside-down somewhere...

So this was a lesson learned for me. Let's take bets on if it will influence my future purchase of printed ribbons. ;-)

Moving on... I found this photo on the Verve blog:

It is an inspiration challenge, and while I do not usually take these on, I was likin' this bed spread pattern, so I thunk about it for a while. Then I forgot where I'd seen it. Then I searched and I searched and I stumbled upon this next photo:

This is some bedding I found in my desperate search (I forget where ... ), and I liked the combination of the pattern with the stripes. Then I re-discovered the Verve one. Isn't that always the way things happen?

So naturally, I did something that was a combination of both photos. It's all about the inspiration, right?

In keeping with our Stash Dippin' theme, I thought to use the now-retired Cerise DS papers that I bought a LOT of for a Stamp Camp last November, and I have a LOT of it left. I wanted a very narrow red & white stripe, but it was not to be, so I made do with what I did have, and I made this:

The sentiment is from my last shopping spree at Viva Las Vegas Stamps. The ribbon and brad are from my stash. The scallop was made with my Slit punch.

I dunno. I think it's okay. The top is a little nekked, but that may be something I have to learn to embrace. If you have any ideas to dress this up a bit, I am open to suggestions.

This weekend sounds like it will involve suffering - on my part, of course. I'll be out in the HH&H on Saturday for the Market, then I get to spend the rest of the weekend trying to find my Living Room floor. It has become my de facto stash overflow storage area, and that is fine by me, except that 10 people will be joining me for dinner next Saturday evening, so I must find the floor so they have somewhere to sit. I'll try not to be distracted by all the stamps and papers I'll have to touch along the way ... Wish me luck!