walkin' tall

ladies and gentlemen, it's the 20th of the october, 2009, so for the very last time may i wish you a:

HAPPY CAARDVARKS

CHALLENGE DAY!!!

on this occasion we are sponsored by a company called nikki sivils, scrapbooker, purveyor of fine papers, albums, rubber stamps and other scrappy accoutrements, who are providing a lovely and generous prize to our lucky winner. the challenge is TALL CARDS! easy-peasy, right?! ok, yeah, it WAS, actually...but not until after i spent about 3 days running rings around myself logically. over-thinkin' it, thy name is lauren!

as you know, i've been digi-dabbling for a while now, but i don't think i've made a hybrid card yet. this one started as an experiement with some gorgeous rhonna farrer brushes. eventually a wider and more text-based version became a fancy label for mailing birthday presents. (many of my digi-experiments become address labels for some reason; i guess because they are always useful and yet hard to be over-critical about??) while i was pondering what would fill a vertical rectangle nicely, these lovely birdcages sprang to mind. i planned to start from scratch, but when i looked at the saved label i realized that it already had nearly every element i wanted to use...it just needed to be re-sized and re-shaped! so that's what i did.

i printed two copies of the inner panel on glossy photo paper. one i trimmed to size. from the other i carefully cut out the birdcages. i mounted them on foam tape for extra dimension, and layered the panel onto coordinating paper and then a glossy black cardbase. i liked the look of it, but...somehow...it just was not alllllll that exciting to me. i considered going back and re-formatting the whole thing, so as to leave room for embellishments, when it hit me: the cages are black with lots of dangly beady bits--wouldn't it be great if they were encrusted with real jet crystals??!

it took over an hour to cut and paste a prima flourish into pieces of the correct size and shape to adorn all three cages, but it was worth every second! this card has soooo much sparkle and shine and dimension it's almost a bit sinful, really. but in a gooooooooood way.

(software: broderbund printshop; birdcage brushes and inked edge tool kit: rhonna farrer, house of 3; spots and dots brushes: katie pertiet, designer digitals; indian summer nights background paper (re-colored): marcie reckinger, funky playground; glossy photo paper: kodak premium; patterned paper: bo bunny; glossy black cardstock: ranger; black crystals: prima; lines of bling: heidi swapp; rhinestone flourish: oriental trading co; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow mono runner & 3m foam tape)

here's a close-up from the side so you can see the beads a bit better. it's still not as cool as the thing looks in real life, but short of inviting you all to new jersey for a personal glimpse of said masterpiece* i guess this will have to do!

you have until midnight, 10-31, to make a *brand new* tall card and submit a direct link to your creation via mr. linky. as per usual, all the rules and regs are on the varks' blog, as are pics of the prize, and an even more than usually amazing array of fabulous crew caards! why not stop by and drool awhile??!

but first: scroll down to THIS POST and enter the draw for my blog candy!

*though OF COURSE you'd be most welcome! just let me know so i can stock up on diet soda and beef jerky! :)