SOS188: tp or not tp...

...that is the question, or rather, that is the challenge this week at shopping our stash. so what do we mean? let's check out the official SOS description:

Challenge 188: TP or not TP  

use the patterns from your paper towels or your toilet paper as inspiration 

OR use paper towels or TP to add texture, 

OR actually use one of them on your project.

ok, so, first i'll show you my card and then i'll essplain it:

inspiration towel: wegman's brand select-a-size paper towels; patterned paper scraps: crate paper, basic grey + part of an old sparkly storebought greeting card; glossy white cardstock: paper accents; textured white cardstock: bazzill; white glitter paper: best creation; heart dies: cuttlebug; border punches: recollections; velvet flower: maya road; leaf: recollections; doily from my stash; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine 

i had to really think about this one because all of our paper products are plain and white, which at first glance doesn't seem to offer much inspiration. but when i really looked at our wegman's brand paper towels (there's one behind my card in the photo above) i realized they had a kind of quilted geometric pattern that was pretty cool, so i decided to make a version of that to be my background. but how? i tried out a few different ideas, including free-form stitching, making a hand-cut template, using diecut leaves as appliques, etc...

...and some of those looked interesting, but none of them were quiiiiiiiite right. then it came to me, i could use my favorite border punch on both sides of some thin strips of white cardstock, tack them loosely to a glossy white cardstock panel, and sew along the edges. here's how that came out:

pretty nice, right? so then i just needed to make the background panel into a pretty card. luckily i had the current cardabilities sketch (#116) to help:

i used lots of stash to make the heart collage in the center, including paper scraps, a sparkly flowery store-bought greeting card, a velvety flower and a lacy heart-shaped doily backed with pink paper so it would stand out from the all-white background.

now why not hop on over to SOS where there are lots more clever crafty ideas from my awesome DT sisters, which ask the musical question, "tp or not tp"! :)