A Study in Contrast: A Before and After Lesson

Today, I'm sharing two cards that demonstrate the value of contrast. First, let's look at the monochromatic card, which is very, very brown.

My design concept was to make the area above the line busy and energetic, and the area below the line clean so as to draw attention to the sentiment. That contrast, I thought, would add interest, and I was sort of right...but this brown version of the concept doesn't quite work.

Meh.

I wanted to play with metallic markers, so I masked the bottom third of the card, repeatedly stamped the floral stem from SU's Pocket Silhouettes, removed the mask, drew a copper metallic line, and added brown and amber bling.

Not thrilling. Very brown.

Did I point that out already? Yes? Sorry. But it is very, very brown.

Plus, the silhouette stamp is kind of heavy, but my copper marker has a fine tip. The proportions don't seem very good on the first card. It feels heavy and sort of clunky.

So I decided it was time to add some contrast between the metallic shade and the ink shade...hot pink and silver worked perfectly. I also lightened up the stamp by choosing one with thinner lines from the same set and used a thicker metallic marker to ground the plants.

Much Better

How much fresher and cleaner this feels!!! I also love that the silver half-beads unify the design much better than the brown bling in the first card did.

So there you have it: a study in contrast.

Just remember that if you ever have a concept you're pretty sure will work, it might take more than one try to get it right.

Supplies
stamps: SU Pocket Silhouettes, Papertrey Simple Little Things
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: metallic markers, metal ruler, rhinestones, silver half-beads, post-its for masking