I hope everyone survived the horrible heat we had. 3 days of heat advisories was too much. It is nice to have a break.
I have been doing the Creative Belli blog challenges lately. I had wanted to participate again this week so I went to the site to check it out. When I saw the challenge I knew there was no way I would be able to do this one. The challenge was to use wood on your card. So I just said I would forget this one this week.
Imagine my surprise when this morning I was making some banana bread and to test to see if it was done I pulled out some toothpicks. All of a sudden it hit me. I could use the toothpicks as they were the wooden kind. My wheels started turning as to how I could use the toothpicks. I thought of branches, flower stems, and all the usual ways to use them. But I wanted something different. That is when I thought of using the toothpicks for Chinese writing. I pulled out my retired Kanji set and looked at the symbols in the set. I decided to use the Harmony sentiment.
I began by using my Basic Black pad to dye the toothpicks. I pushed them down in the pad on all 4 sides (I used wax paper to protect my fingers). Once I had 3 of them dyed, I set them aside to dry and began putting my card together. I used the sketch from the Sketch Saturday blog. I have done several of these sketches and they are fun. With an oriental theme, I chose to use red, black, and gold as my color scheme.
I stamped the bamboo leaves from Embrace Life in Garden Green. The image panel was a little harsh looking to me so I sponged on some Mellow Moss ink. I cut my layers and used my gold painting pen to add gold to the edges. I then stacked my layers and decided to use the words from the Harmony stamp to make my sentiment strip. I wanted it to be a little more noticeable so I used my Basic Black marker and a ruler to color the edges of the strip. I got some free ribbon in an order I placed and knew it would be perfect for the card.
Once the card was put together, I had to switch the placement of the symbol to the right as I didn’t have room on the left. I started cutting the toothpicks up using the stamp as a guide as to what the symbol should look like. Once the card was finished I thought I had been pretty creative and felt the final creation was interesting. Here is the sketch and my creation.
inside of card
Stamps: Embrace Life, Kanji (retired) Paper: Basic Black, Real Red, white Ink: Basic Black, Garden Green, Mellow Moss, Real Red Accessories: Basic Black – Real Red marker, toothpicks, ribbon, crystal effects, sponge, sticky tape, dimensionals
Hope you enjoyed today’s card. Thanks for looking and have a Great Day!
Robbie
How clever you were!! The Belli Challenge was not so difficult to do, as you found out! I love your Asian card, and the character you created out of the toothpicks is wonderful!! See you in the next one!
Excellent way to incorporate some wood on your card – very creative! Don't you just love how those inspirational moments hit at the oddest times?! Thanks for playing in the Belli Challenge!
Wow…what a great idea using tooth picks! How creative!!! Thanks so much for playing with us over at the belli challenge blog!