Inspired Step Fold Card

It's time for another Heart 2 Heart challenge!  This week, we've got a color challenge for you:

I gotta say, I struggled with this color combo.  These are not colors I normally use, and all I could picture in my head was Halloween images.  I pulled out every Gypsy and Creme Brulee pattern paper I could find, and just wasn't feeling it. 

Then an early morning wake up call (thanks to Bentley) dragged me out of my nice warm bed.  He normally doesn't wake up until the kids do, but for some reason he was whining at MY side of the bed at 6:30 am. 

I grumbled (translate: swore) as I let him out into the -30C/-22F morning (then I regretted swearing at him as I watched him dance on his freezing little paws as he tried to do his business). 

How can you stay angry at a face like this? 

The point of this story is that the sunrise in the freezing horizon was a perfect shade of Creme Brulee, and I had one of those "a ha!" moments right there in my furry slippers and I knew exactly what I would do with this color combo:

Don't you love it when inspiration hits you smack in the forehead at the most unexpected time?  All my favorite craft projects happened this way.

 

I was up anyway, so I went straight to my craft room and had this done before anyone else woke up.  I masked, sponged and stamped the scene onto a 4.25x5.5" piece of White Daisy cs, cut and scored the Gypsy cardstock into this modified step card fold that I've been wanting to use, trimmed the pieces off the scene to fit onto the card base, inked the edges and stuck them down.  The ribbon was a last minute addition, and I restrained myself from adding any more embellishing. The finished card is a standard 4.25x5.5", and I made it in my PJ's :) 

Honestly, it took me longer to photograph this than it did to make it. I learned that Gypsy purple is a difficult color to capture with my camera...I tried every setting, played with the white balance and the lighting, and still could not capture the yumminess that is Gypsy. You gotta see this color IRL, it's real purty.

Here is a side view of the modified step card fold I used:

And the inside is prettied up a bit too:

I first noticed this awesome card fold on Barbara Diane's blog, with her lovely card here, and have been looking for the pattern ever since.  I searched and googled for a template to make this card, and found some side step folds and some step folds, but couldn't find this one, so...since I had to figure it out anyway, I thought I'd save you a few headaches and share :)  The template is sitting on my Martha Stewart Score Board, which I only bought because I had a 50% off coupon, and thought I'd hardly use it.  It has come to be one of my favorite tools. Sorry, I only have a .jpg for you, but you can click the pic to make it bigger.

I'll call it an 'Outside Step-fold Card'

Not inspired by freezing in your PJ's to let your dog out in the morning?  Check out the amazing projects from the rest of the H2H design team...they are sure to inspire you!  (Their links are over in my sidebar) 

Link your project up to Heart 2 Heart to play along with our color challenge, you have the whole month to play along!  *Remember that you are required to use mainly CTMH products and link to the page where we can leave comments for your work of art. 

We have 2 generous new prize sponsors for March,  Angie Parchey and Lori Brown! Pop on over to their blogs and leave them some love.  And, we're announcing our new Guest Designer chosen from our past Top Ten winners.....head on over to Heart 2 Heart to see who it is!

Thanks for visiting!

Lorrinda

Recipe:

All products CTMH:

Cardstock: Gypsy, White Daisy, Black

Stamps: D1436 The Present, C1408 Live Inspired, C1257 Happy Birthday

Inks: Gypsy, Creme Brulee, Black

Black satin ribbon from my stash

Techniques: Step fold card, masking, sponging

Tools: Martha Stewart Scoreboard, Paper trimmer, sponges