Another ISC Challenge and How about the new American Idol?!

Today Shelly posted the second Innovative Stamp Creations challenge here and I jumped right in knowing I will be away for the holiday weekend and won't get any stamping done. This one is a color challenge. I don't actually own any SU! cardstock...never have. GASP! you say? Does one actually say "gasp"? I think not. Anyway, I just pulled colors from my own stash that I thought were similar. See, I actually started stamping before I ever heard of SU! and shopped regularly at a very quaint little rubberstamp store in our village which was owned by a wonderfully talented woman. Since I already owned mega amounts of stamps and paper before I decided to try SU! I did not feel it necessary to buy all of their ink and paper too. So, there you have it, not that you asked. Onto the card:I stamped the butterfly image in Versa Fine Vinage Sepia on a vanilla cardstock and cut it and the brown scallopped mat with my nestabilities. The image is painted with ArtQuest Pastelle's. They are a very shimmery cake paint that you add water too, kind of like h20's. I added tiny rhinestones down the body and used a larger one for the Prima flower center. The small Prima is painted with the Pastelle's also so it would contrast a bit with the flower underneath. The brads are from my stash. All paper I believe to be Bazzill. I inked the edges of all panels with Ranger Distress Ink in Walnut Stain. IRL the butterfly is very shimmery and pretty, but that's hard to capture in a photo without getting a completely washed out glare.
I did try out a different ISO setting on my camera and turned off the flash so I could capture the richness of the colors and I really love how it came out. Of course I used photoshop to tweak it. If you have a SLR camera and are interested in furthering your education with it a great place to gets tips is at The Pioneer Woman's photography section. It's not a technical or training blog...but rather a person who loves to photograph, is self taught, and explains in plain english (with lots of humor) exactly what she's doing and how you can do it.

And last, before I go to bed, I want to state for the record that David Cook, our new American Idol, was my favorite from the beginning and I was never so excited to see anyone win before! He is so humble and just an amazing artist that I couldn't have seen anyone else more deserving than him win. I can't wait for his first CD!

I am off bright and early Saturday morning to our summer house in the Adirondack's where my dh will be tearing out the kitchen and hopefully replacing it too! It's going to take a few trips and a lot of elbow grease, but man, that kitchen has been the same for as long as I can remember...and trust me, it's been a while! With that, I wish everyone a wonderful holiday weekend! Goodnight!