SOS185: not your normal paper

this week's challenge at shopping our stash is called "not your normal paper" and here's leslie's description of what we want, "use a specialty paper you had to have: glitter paper, foil paper, honeycomb paper, corrugated paper, canvas, cork, etc." you probably already know that specialty paper is like catnip to me. i find it hard to resist handmade paper, sparkly paper, laminated paper, woven-bamboo-like paper... well, basically if it's fun and funky and paper, i either have it or i want it, lol. so this was a great chance to use a few different kinds on my card:

specialty papers:  silver glitter=best creation, ancient red paisley velvet paper=sei, flocked yellow background paper, blue spot-laminated paper=k and co, pale pink self-adhesive fabric paper=dcwv, silver metallic cardstock=staples; vintage ledger from my stash; frankensteined bits of rhinestone flourish i cut apart so they'd fit better: recollections; flower/mandala dies: spellbinders nestabilities; circle punches: ek success; ink: colorbox; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

ok, so, you can see the glitter paper right off, and i think you can maybe tell that the big paisley on the right hand side of the yellow base paper is flocked. (if not, you'll just have to believe me when i say, "it's flocked!") there are also a couple of other "special" papers here which are probably harder to spot. the orangey-red paisley is actually some ancient sei velvet paper... and may i just take one extra minute here to say, "i still LOVE that stuff!"... but apparently i was the only one who did, because i've never seen any other version of it by any other manufacturer. go figure. the pink mat layer is some very sheer, self-adhesive fabric paper by die cuts with a view, which, again: i've only ever seen this one variety, one time, in a joann fabrics; admittedly it's slightly fussy to work with, being very thin and wanting to stick to itself more than to any other surface, but if you use it in small quantities it looks really nice. finally my cardbase is a metallic silver cardstock that i found at staples near the big pieces of oaktag and foam core that are used for presentations and class projects and things.

however, my favorite part of this card actually has nothing to do with the papers; my favorite part is that, several years after buying nestabilities blossoms two dies, i discovered that whereas i don't like them much as flowers, i *DO* totally love them as layers in a mandala, woohoo! :)

for the layout of my design i used the latest sketch (#344) at sketch saturday:

be sure to check out this week's gorgeous SOS design team cards, since each and every one has a brilliant way to use some beautiful specialty paper!