Project 39: Soft Neutral Mojo entry

I gave myself the luxury of time tonight to do a blog challenge. I haven’t made cards in a few weeks with all of the wedding craft that I’ve been doing so I decided to spend a dedicated evening on a challenge entry. 

I wanted to get double the inspiration as it’s been a few weeks so I checked out two challenge sites: Mojo and Shabby Tea Room. Above is the inspiration for Mojo and the theme for Shabby Tea Room was Soft Neutrals. Perfect. Here’s my entry:

Where to start with the process and technique! I put a layer of an almost-sheer natural paper that has strands of dark beige running through it. Next for the skewed layer I added an embossed cream card. Running behind is a thick ivory cord that I’ve not found much usage for. I added three ivory candies to offset the bow.

The details on the top layer are my favourites. First a tag with gold in from a new stamp set. I don’t have many long greetings and I think this works on the flag shape. The white square which you can barely see has a doily layer on top to give it texture.

Finally the scallop punch came out of a beige piece of heavy card stock – this is actually a wedding invite (not the one I’m attending this weekend!) that I saved because I couldn’t bear to throw it out for the quality. I should seek help.

I stamped a music pattern in the same gold ink over top, pressing faintly to give it the antique feel. I then added depth to the edges with an almond coloured Pro Marker that I have never had a need for before tonight.

The colours are a bit more realistic above but you can't see the gold ink without the flash. For one card, this is exceptionally high in the effort stakes. But I’m really pleased with it and hope it stands out from the crowd. 

PS: Can another blogger give me some advice on how I get quality pictures of the details? I have a decent camera but when I zoom or hold the card to close it blurs. I want to do the cards justice but am quickly losing patience!