It's In the Details...Verve Project Parade!

It's hard to imagine that another month has gone by and it is already time for another Verve Project Parade. This month's parade is unique: it is called Divine Details and focuses on the design process. I usually design a card or project according to mood. I might want to try a new color, break out an old favorite set, or attempt a new technique. Often, I find inspiration from sketch challenges and jump from there. I am a mixer rather than a matcher when it comes to stamps and papers and one of my favorite things to do is figure out how to make elements from different companies come together. So, here is my step-by-step design process for this particular project:

• I didn't have a sketch to work from, so I started off with deciding what stamp set I wanted to use, in this case, Verve's Miracles Blossom. I got the idea to make a triptych of panels to illustrate a growing flower in the adorable pot image.
  
• Next, I needed to decide on color. I love to combine challenges, and this week's Color Throwdown (#52) of Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, and Perfect Plum was great. I was out of Perfect Plum, so substituted Pale Plum instead.
• After stamping all the images I would need I cut them all out and got ready to adhere them to my Certainly Celery panels that I cut out with my fabulous Long Rectangle Nestabilities and Big Shot. I was going to just draw in stems and leaves, but decided that a nice little detail might be to pierce and stitch them in, which I did.
• I also came across a scrap of cork paper and thought why not make the pots out of those for a little added texture? I also double-stamped the blooms so that I could pop them out for some dimension.
  
• After assembling the panels, I found some dark brown metallic cardstock for a background piece. Next I would need an actual sketch, so I simply played around with some different sizes of cardstock until something clicked. I reached for a Martha Stewart Punch and used it on the Pale Plum cardstock.
• I thought the bottom of my card seemed sad and plain. I had some dark brown organza ribbon and tried out a bit of tying. With a hobby blade, I made some slits to pass the ribbon through, tying as I went along.
• At first, I cut out the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's new Everyday Button Bits (don't you just love it when a sentiment from a different set says exactly what you wanted it to?) in the shape of an oval, but it overwhelmed the card. I am not a fan of tossing things and trying again -- unless I really mess up! -- so I cut down the oval and rounded the edges.
• And what card would be complete without the small little green pearls that I found in my stash? Voila! Finished card.

BEAN NOTES: Verve Miracles Blossom and Papertrey Ink Everyday Button Bits Stamps; Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip and Pale Plum Classic Dye Ink; SU Certainly Celery, Pale Plum, and Very Vanilla Cardstock; Dark Brown Mettalic Cardstock (Generic); Bazzil Textured Cardstock (color unknown); Dark Brown Organza Ribbon (generic); Foam Dimensional Squares (generic); Nestabilities Long Rectangles Die; Big Shot; Martha Stewart Dotted Scallop Border Punch; Kaiser Light Green Pearls
HAPPY BEANS: Quickutz Cork Paper; Paper Piercer; Light Green Embroidery Thread (generic); Hobby Blade