This time, the Fusion Challenge was, well, a challenge. Here are the sketch and the inspiration:
And here is my card:
I liked the sketch and the inspiration photo, but the tag line—“This challenge is all about flowers or maybe not!”—pretty succinctly summed up my dilemma. The inspiration, sketch, and sample cards all were so clearly aimed at eliciting a card featuring flowers that it felt as if the design team had thrown down a gauntlet in front of me, daring me to make my card about something other than flowers. Adding to my desire to do something different was my knowledge that there are so many talented stampers out there who can create much more beautiful stamped flowers than I can (and an awful lot of them seem to design for or play along with Fusion).
But if not flowers, then what, WHAT?? I racked my brain for days, and mentally tried out so many alternative ideas, some interesting but ultimately unworkable, and others just downright desperate. Then, last Friday, UPS brought me a small envelope from Amazon containing a 6×6 pad of the pattern and solid papers that are part of G45’s “Steampunk Spells” collection. I had ordered the pad shortly after I finished my card for Fusion #7 because I really liked the patterned paper that I used for that card and wanted to have some more of it on hand. When I pulled the pad out of the mailing envelope—Eureka!—there it was, the logo for the “Steampunk Spells” collection, which is two flowers surrounded by four cogs or gears:
The steampunk flowers motif gave me a vision of how to make a floral card that wasn’t just about flowers. But when I thought about my card, what I pictured was a card that was just as light and beautiful as the inspiration photo, rather than the dark aesthetic of the typical steampunk card—more about a love that transcends time than about gadgetry and alternative futures (think “Outlander,” “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” “11/22/63” or “Time And Again”).
The base of my card is SU Soft Suede. I stamped the focal image on parchment paper using SU Early Espresso. After first cutting an oval window in some very pretty burlap/stripe paper from Bo Bunny’s “Anthem” collection, I layered it over the focal. Although the paper already had some designs in it (a staff and musical notes and some scripty writing in white), I decided to use PTI’s Chai ink to stamp some more iconic steampunk images on top of it, including gears and butterflies. I also stamped gears around the edges of the focal where it would show through the window. The flowers were cut from several different papers using the Tim Holtz Tattered Flower Garland die, layered, and then sponged with distress ink.
I am happy with how the card turned out, but in the end I almost didn’t adhere the card front to the card base because by then I had decided that it would make a great cover for a photo album, especially because of those filigree corners. I am still considering cutting the card up and using the front that way after I photo it for this post.
Products Used:
Stamp Sets: Stampendous, “Winged Timepiece”, Inkadinkado Gears Cling Stamp Set, butterfly stamp
Card Stock: “Celebration” (“Anthem” collection by Bo Bunny), “Records” (“Hope Chest Collection” collection by Pink Paislee), vanilla, tan, and various shades of pink and green (Bazzill Basics), Document Paper and Chocolate Shimmer (Recollections)
Inks & Powders: SU Early Espresso, Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Walnut, Papertreyink Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo
Tools: Big Shot, Cheery Lynn Designs Gears Die Set (B-340), Spellbinders Classic Ovals Large (S4-110), Sizzix/Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers Garland Decorative Strip Die (657824)
Accessories: “Buttercup Lace” 4 pack (Bo Bunny), Elegant Filigree Frames Corners (Martha Stewart), metallic mini brads from stash
