Monday, March 4, 2013

One, two three...

four, five. Once I caught a fish alive... Six, seven... Oh, hang on, it's blog time, not baby song-time. (Switch hats) But it is all about the numbers at Simon Says Stamp & Show this week. You can be as literal as you fancy or maybe, like me, you might go for a less obvious numerical tint and behave a little oddly...
It is often said that an odd number of elements works better in art and composition, a.k.a. "The rule of odds." The eye and brain likes to pair up even numbers of elements... there is harmony, symmetry, things appear balanced.
But when there is an odd number, things are slightly different, the eye keeps moving around and that causes a degree of interest to remain. A bit like watching the infamous love triangle in a film! Who will end up with who? And even with a humble flowery  card, to a certain extent the same principle works.
That was the inspiration behind my creations this week - to play with numbers. Three flowers and three blocks of words.I wasn't sure how to start so I sat down with some Ranger Speciality paper and created an inky master board using lots of lovely bright Dylusion inks, stencils, gesso, Wendy leaf stamps and machine stitching.
 I just played around building up the layers and colours until I was happy with the page. Sometimes I could just look at an inky page all day but there were flowers to be stamped and cut. I still absolutely luuurve these flower stamps from Wendy Vecchi . You can do so much with them. Just stamp and cut like I did or layer them up. They work well with all kinds of colours and products.
Once all cut out, I edged them with Distress Ink and arranged the composition. I always like to give my loose elements 'grounding' and so I stitched some random lines on the card bases. Then it feels like the flowers are 'attached' and not just floating around.
I used a mix of typed words and stamp "excerpts" to create my sentiments and also added a few inky washers to the flower centres. In a free thinking moment I decided to chop off one corner which thankfully turned out just fine and adds interest. All the edges are finished with a bit of pink Distress ink! So there you go a bit of odd art, if you get my drift...
Fancy more arty numbers? Then take a look at all the fabulous creations over at the Design Team Blog here! There's a $50 shopping voucher for a randomly picked entrant and we are also on the hunt for our top three artists.
Let me wish you a good week and happy inky times.

Until the next time,
Sarah.

16 comments:

Candy C said...

Sarah...I love your colorful cards! Those bright, fun flowers look absolutely gorgeous against the white background. Love your pink edging around the cards as well. <3 Candy

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

What gorgeous color on these petals and the stitching is perfection! Love the contrast of the stark white background! Just gorgeous!

Helen said...

How beautiful, Sarah! I was singing along with you too....

Redanne said...

Wow Sarah, I luuuve your funky flowers, they are gorgeous and they look wonderful over the stitched background cards. Really love the shape of the cards too.. x

Craft Addicts - Tracy Evans said...

Your cards are so eye catching Sarah. Love how you created a master board first and then steamed your flowers. The flowers are gorgeous and I love how you added stitching to ground them. I love the rounded edge on the card blank too. Wonderful design Sarah. Tracy x

wendy vecchi said...

these are simply...
BEAUTIFUL!

very eye catching...
BEAUTIFUL colors...

I'm in LOVE...

Suzanne C said...

Happy and Cheerful set of cards! Love how you turned the design. Beautiful!

Sandra said...

Wow Sarah! Love these colorful flowers! Really pretty! Hugs, Sandra

Inkypinkycraft said...

These are wonderul! Trace x

email: Steph@SimonSaysStamp.com said...

Wow! 2 gorgeous cards, Sarah! I agree that odd numbers just really are pleasing to the eye. I really love these bright pops of color and touches of stitching!

*mwah*
Steph
Simon Says Stamp!

Marjie Kemper said...

Love those flowers... how fun to have a bouquet like that!

Carole said...

The flowers are wonderful Sarah so bright and beautiful and the stitching really adds a nice touch.

Janny Jager said...

Great card Sarah with beautiful and colorful flowers.
Greetings Janny

Words and Pictures said...

They're so fresh and pretty - really fabulous cards!
Alison x

GrĂ¡inne said...

Love all the colors against the (mostly) white of the card ... it's very beautiful. Suzanne

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