Earth Day inspiration, take 1

Hello again!

Today's card is the first I will be sharing as inspiration for my Earth Day challenge. If you missed my post with all the details, you can check it out here. But first, I want to say a huge thank you to the crew over at the Curtain Call for selecting my card for the lead in its latest color challenge. I was absolutely giddy all weekend! What an honor to be featured among so many beautiful entries.

Now check out the fun color combo in my "Congrats" card. This was inspired by the challenge at colourQ to use navy, turquoise, tangerine, suede and white (I left out the white). I used sketch 161 from Card Positioning Systems. I wanted a masculine look, something a bit rugged. I was kind of stuck with a flat, boring design until I thought to use some corrugated cardboard. I love that rough texture--it really gives the card that extra something, don't you think?

Cardstock: Bazzill; Stamp: TPC Studio; Ink: Papertrey Ink, Clearsnap, Tim Holtz; Punch: Marvy Uchida; Corner rounder: EK Success; other: cardboard, paper cording

The cardboard, of course, is the recycled item for today's take on the Earth Day challenge. I took a box that was sitting in my mudroom and cut off one of the flaps. Then I peeled away the paper on one side of the cardboard to reveal the corrugated paper underneath. This leaves it with that distressed, unfinished look with tons of texture! The stars were punched out of cardstock, then I dampened them just a bit with a baby wipe (I always have those on hand!). Next I crumpled them up in a ball, then unfolded them to reveal a distressed, rumpled look. The edges were inked with dark brown chalk ink by Clearsnap to give them a little more definition. I finished it off with some paper cording and a sentiment from TPC Studio in Dark Chocolate ink from Papertrey.

I'd love to hear what you think! I hope you'll be inspired to find some "trash" to use in an unexpected way on your next project. And be sure to post a link here for a chance to win. Thanks for stopping by!