Hip Hip Hooray...

Graduating from college is one of those huge milestones that I like looking back on. It seems like yesterday that I was slaving through my assignments in the computer cluster...much less did I think my little brother's graduation was going to come this soon! He graduated last weekend with HONORS (more than I can say ;) and the whole family was there to cheer him on as he walked across that stage to receive his diploma. Between all the "whoop whoop" yells and "don't trip!" thoughts I was very proud of him...

So to celebrate this big milestone I decided to ink my new Waltzingmouse Stamps and enter Steph's generous challenge. In case you're wondering, Steph is one of my Swapping Sisters and I've been enjoying getting to know her through this little fun online get-together. Read her blog entry to know what an inspiring person she is...

Her challenge is to enter the Scrap Our Stash May Challenge and do something "Outta the Box." In my case, since I'm such a newbie card crafter, every little new thing I do seem like stepping out of the box. Perhaps the expert crafters can relate to this feeling. So here I am presenting my 8th card:


Stamps: Free Spirit - Boy (Waltzingmouse Stamps), Free Spirit - Sentiments (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Paper: Preppie Pack - Oxford (Bazzill Basics Paper), Off-white (Recollections)
Ink: VersaMark - Watermark (Tsukineko), Ruby Red (SU!)
Embellishments: White Embossing Powder (Stampendous!), Jute Packaging Twine (Westim Crafts)

Why is this "out of the box" for me? 

• Non-A2 card format: Since the graduation gift was going to be a cash, it needed to fit in card nicely. 
• Better cardstock: I recently hit a frustration point when making card that my current "Recollection" card stock (at 65 lbs.) is not cutting anymore. So I have upgraded to Bazzill cardstock (80 lbs.) until I can find better. Any recommendations? I am leaning towards GinaK or PTI, but would love to hear your input. 
• VersaMark as inking: I have seen so many lovely examples used, where VersaMark would be used to deepen the shade of the card stock with a stamp image. This actually resulted in a boo-boo. Can you guess what it was? I tried to put a border along the bottom of the card. But since the stamp image was not long enough, I tried to line it up and it resulted in a mess that I decided to cover with the sentiment. After that the card looked like it needed a little something else and I decided to use the individual circle to create a random versa-marked background.
• Keep it simple: I never seem to be able to stay to just two colors. So this time I practiced restraint. Notice that I couldn't resist with the red surf board. But overall I think I kept my intent...

Overall I am pretty happy with this card. Helps that the brother likes it.  What are some "Outta the Box" things that you have tried lately? Were you happy with the results?

And by the way, if you are reading this and haven't entered the challenge, go play Steph's challenge. She's extending it to May 28th and there are fun fun give-aways.