CAS44 Red and Brown Color Challenge: White Space Isn't Scary

I have been really bad about keeping up with the CAS challenges lately. Several times, I tried to come up with something and just had too much Christmas on my mind.

This week, though, I couldn't resist because the red and brown color combo called to me like the Sirens luring Odysseus to a watery grave. Oh, wait. That simile doesn't work. Let's see. CAS44 called to me like a great big steamy mocha in my brand new Marjolein Bastin cardinal mug my friend Liz* sent me for my birthday. Yeah, that's much more appropriate.

As soon as I saw the challenge posted late Sunday night, my mind went to work, and by midmorning on Monday, about forty ideas floated around in my extremely overactive mind. Here's the first to reach fruition:


Remember this SU tag set? Well, I don't. Anyone who knows the name please shout out in the comments, 'cause I ditched all but this stamp from the set. The rubber is blue; does that mean something? Was it a hostess set or a Sale-a-bration set?

And I want to go on record--in print or whatever you call what I'm doing right now--as saying I despise the name Sale-a-Bration. SU (without the exlamation point!), are you listening to the English snob here? Blech! I feel better now. Thanks for permitting that little excoriation of cutsy marketing techniques.

Wow, where did that grouchiness come from? Shake it off, Susan! Other than its tendency to use annoying cutsy names, I love SU.

Anyway, my first CAS44 card makes me happy. This tag stamp hasn't seen ink in ages and simply screamed to be used in brown and red. The little red bow took a ridiculous amount of time to make, but I got there in the end.

Since I've brought up marketing, a field in which I worked for many years, let's address the issue of scary white space. For those who find this much white space disturbing, I implore you to spend some time looking at GAP print advertisements. When a visual item isn't cluttered up with a billion things (think the weekly Michael's ad...shudder!), you can easily notice what is important.

Don't get me wrong. Skillful and talented artists can and do create a strong focal point on cards without leaving much white space, but good grief, we've established that I am NOT one of them.

No, I trend toward keeping my card canvas simple and uncluttered, balanced and clean. That way, a lovely image and perfect colors and a single little embellishment can really shine.

Either that, or I'm pathologically lazy. You decide.

Supplies
stamp: SU edited to add: Too Terrific Tags
ink: Palette dark chocolate
paper: PTI vintage cream
accessories: SU marker (real red, creamy caramel), dimensionals, ribbon

*Liz is a graphic design artist whom I worked with in the late 1990s. She's a genius of clean-and-simple design in marketing and crafting, and I want to be her when I grow up. She took really boring charts and words I wrote about computer memory chips and made them stunningly easy to read and beautiful, too. I can't top that. Ever.