My Art - Oct cardmaking - sunflower & ladybug

Love this card! I struggled with the design of this card - the cardstock was ivory and making the whole thing look too warm to properly show off the little ladybug. I finally decided to try adding black to the edge of the card and that worked perfectly to tie in that lady bug accent. I used a black marker and drew a line around the edge of the card front. FRUGAL TIP: This is a great technique if you are wanting to have the look of a separate layer without the bulk and also when you do not have the right colour of cardstock but have a marker that you can use to simulate it!!
I embossed the background layer using my Cuttlebug with a silicone texture mat and a flooring sample!! The sample had a simple hexagon textured design and with a custom sandwich in my CB I was able to texturize my cardstock!! Always be on the look out for everyday items that can be used in your art!!
Because of the proportions of my watercoloured image to my green layer I needed it to be as wide as possible so I modified my border punch (SU) so that the scalloped edge would punch closer to the edge of the cardstock. Typically you lose about 1/4" of cardstock when you punch the edge with a border punch. SO.... I just added an 1/8" piece of matboard to the throat of my punch so that the cardstock would not go in as far when I punched it. Worked like a dream!!
I see in the scan that the ribbon looks the same colour as the background cardstock but in real life it is a nice deep ochre colour and velvety!!
The little ladybug is actually a postage stamp!! Bought what I needed at the post office - 1 cent postage - for less than a dollar!! So these little stickers cost ONE CENT!! It is the best deal going anywhere and they are very cute!! I layered the ladybug onto a rectangle of black cardstock and mounted it to the card using 3D foam tape.

Therese