secret ingredients

The color combination challenge for this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments sounds just like the secret ingredients of a tv cooking show.  You know on those shows when the open a mystery basket and find four mismatched items they must include in their dish that the chefs have to be slightly perplexed.  Well that is not this case with these ingredients: Old Olive, More Mustard, Early Espresso, and Elegant Eggplant.  Not only could I imagine a great and tasty dish made by a skilled chef, but for me as a stamper these tasty colors combine with ease and are perfect for the fall season.

I really had fun putting this card together.  At first I had no idea what to do except for which colors to use, so I pulled out one of my Stampin' Success Magazines and found a cool layout to follow.  Once I found a layout that appealed to me I had to match that with just the right stamp set.  I looked through my stamp cabinet and decided to ink up a brand new set that I received last month called Take Care.  Isn't it a sweet set and totally versatile?  My favorite part of the card is the nest.  I inked up the image with More Mustard then Old Olive and then Early Espresso markers and stamped it on vellum card stock.  Once it was totally dry I cut the image out and then used the fine end of a stylus to trace the lines and create some neat texture.  FYI the espresso houndstooth paper is from the Festival of Prints stack.  That is a must have pack of patterned paper.