SOS90: le papier tres vieux

as you may have noticed, the lovely miss carla has been on a mission this year at shopping our stash, not just to motivate us to use all the supplies we already have in new and interesting ways-- though she (and the rest of us SOS-ers!) are always up for that, of course-- but lately she's also been pushing us all to think about our OLDEST supplies: what was the first bling we bought? do we still have the first ribbons we acquired? and if so... LET'S USE THOSE!!! i love  these "stashbuster" challenges because they really do make me stop and think; and YES, often grab something i had forgotten all about and use it! this time the brief is to unearth our oldest designer paper, and use it in a project; make a card, a layout, a tag, ATC's... whatever you're in the mood to create!

before i show you my card, i have a confession to make: i'm really not sure what my first "official/designer" paper purchase was! i know it would have been inspired by design team projects at lifetime moments, the very first papercrafting store/gallery i ever followed online. i'm pretty sure it was either SEI or basic grey, as those are the first brands i was ever aware of in a lustful papercrafty way, and certainly the first "collections" i ever bought would've been by those companies; but i honestly cannot pin it down nearer than that. now as it happens, i need a birthday card for our eldest nephew, andrew, so i decided that in the interests of saving time and getting right to the FUN PART of the challenge, i would declare my first papers to be those of basic grey's, "color me silly" collection. thus i made this:

(patterned paper: basic grey, sei; border stickers: crate paper; alphas + arrow: basic grey; birthday sticker: EAD; journaling tag: cosmo cricket; (ancient!) chipboard rings (that i still love!): imagination project; star dies: nestabilities; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staple brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

whereas i cannot say for certain that "color me silly" was indeed the FIRST designer paper set i ever bought, i can definitely tell you that it's still, to this day, one of my all-time favorites for making "guy cards" and i've replenished it many times over the years. i love the bold colors and collagey feeling; i love the perfect mix of size and scale in the patterns, and that there's just enough of a "grunge" element; and i really really love that pretty much any BG set can be mixed with any other line from that company to fabulous effect.

for my layout i used cardabilities sketch #69, which i think you'll agree is quite seriously awesome:

something else which is ALWAYS awesome is hopping over to SOS and seeing my fellow dt members' cards, and thus i heartily recommend doing so at your earliest convenience! ciao, darlings! ♥