Patterned Play Class- Day 4

This day's lesson involved using simple touches to add to patterns in the paper.  The other technique for the day also included using Picket Fence Distress Stain to white wash patterned papers to soften the pattern and have them fit together.

The two navy pieces are from the Glitz Vintage Blue paper pack.  The red piece is from the Prima Madeline paper pack.  The maroon piece is from the Prima paper pack Botanicals.  It was difficult to get a good picture to see how much I didn't like the patterns and colors together.  There's just too much going on here.

I started by using the Picket Fence to wash over the top of these paper scraps.  After using my Quickutz dies to cut out the flower shapes, I tried arranging them on the monochromatic patterned paper.  It took a little to figure out how the flowers go together.

I used another of the tricks I've read in other places... the Fibonacci number sequence is naturally occurring in nature. If you observe many clusters of leaves, number of petals in a flower, etc. the number is almost always (there are exceptions, this is just the "rule") within the sequence.  The numbers are found by adding the previous two numbers in the sequence.  It starts with 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc.  Essentially, there is an order to the grouping of items and this order is attractive to the human eye.  I've sometimes used it to fix scrapbook layouts and/or card designs that aren't quite right, but I can't exactly place why.  Even grouping items together works- like having 4 of anything, which is not Fibonacci and making two groups of two- suddenly it works.  So, here I started with three flowers... too little.  By adding the other two, suddenly it worked.

I did some more hand drawing of the stems using my Vintage Photo Distress Marker.  The card looked a little plain, so I used the iRock to place the bling on the polka dotted flower and it seemed to meet my class requirements (add small touches to the patterned paper) and finish the card off properly.

The inside of the card is finished with an unaltered strip of the navy patterned paper.  The sentiment comes from A Close to My Heart stamp.  It is a quote stamp that takes up a great deal of space.  I simply inked the first word "Happiness" on the front layer and the last two "A Journey" on the inside of the card. 

I don't think it is my favorite from last week, but it stretched me, gave me some ideas for using my Picket Fence and I've finished one more post of my work.  I've one more lesson to cover.. we'll see whether I get it done :).   Does it help to mention that I've accomplished a lot at work?

Time's running out, this is just a way to remind you that if you haven't commented on the recent post regarding our blog milestone, please click the link provided.  Each comment is a chance to win some blog candy.  All comments must be received by midnight of March 31st, 2013.  We're a small blog, so the chances are large, you could be a winner!

Andie