PTI challenge -- Improving a Card

Papertrey Ink is on the last day of challenges and contests for its 10th anniversary event, and I've had a lot of fun participating. Today's challenge was to redesign a card you didn't particularly like, keeping in mind some of the tips that have been presented over this event.

I wasn't crazy about this one. I liked the feathers...the burgundy background not so much.

To rework this design, I cut a mat with the Rectangles die, backed it with black, and added a few feathers from What the Doodle: Feathers stamp/die set, leaving one hanging off the popped-up mat. Still not my favorite card ever, but I like it a lot better!

For Lin

Lin Brandyberry posts on her blog, Sending Hugs, almost every day with a beautiful new card. I've been following her for several years now, and have pinned more of her creations to Pinterest than any other artist by far. What's more, it seems that whatever I pin of her work gets re-pinned by others many times over! From time to time I outright copy a pretty card she has made, like this one:

This background uses the wonderful Hero Arts Leaf and Flower background stamp. Lin's trick is to stamp it once, then turn the stamp upside down and stamp it again in a slightly different color. For this one, she used two distress inks: Shaded Lilac and Blueprint Sketch. After I commented on her blog that I loved this technique, she asked me to let her know what color combos I came up with. Actually, I could do this all day because the effect is so cool. Here's a couple I came up with:

Left: Distress inks Worn Lipstick and Festive Berries. 

Right: Hero Arts Shadow Inks Pale Tomato and Cantaloupe.

More Distress: Pine Needles and Evergreen Bough

I think this is the Pale Tomato/Cantaloupe background.

I should keep going and just make up a whole collection to keep on hand for a quick background. They probably look even better as a panel, as Lin did. And wouldn't they make great die cuts? OK, I'm on it.