Pink Cat Studio Geometry Challenge

It's been a busy but super fun week. I'm happy I had the time to create a bunch of cards for the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's challenges and participate in my first Pink Cat Studio Challenge. Head on over to the PCS blog to check out the rules and other creations for this month's geometry challenge created by Jodi-Ann Lee. I had so much fun with this challenge and I was more than excited to use this Lily & Billy Sweetheart stamp. My inspiration for this card came from Michelle B. over at Just Painting Around. Her scene cards will take your breath away! I sketched out my vision for this card last weekend and didn't get around to putting it together until last night but I did work on it little by little throughout the week. The card shows my husband riding his bike - with me in the basket - through the rolling hills of Toscana (Tuscany) where we hope to take early retirement as we've been studying Italian on and off for the last seven years. I know the white picket fence is not typical of the region but I had to use my new punch. I also wish I had an Italian cypress tree punch because that would've been so perfect. I've sent a friend in Italy out to search for Italian-themed stamps and accessories and I hope he's successful!! I had my wonderful hubby help me with the hills because they needed to be perfect. He's a former design engineer of racecars and bicycles so he knows something about curves. LOL

This was my original sketch (click on photos for larger image):

My son got a hold of it which is why it's all mangled. He just loves playing with paper but what nine-month-old doesn't? Heehee! I have BLOpen (remember those?!) marks all over it from the test strip. I completely forgot I had a cobble background stamp and was going to use this strip that looked like a sidewalk or gravel road. I also thought about going with the plain cardstock as the road as storyboarded here.

Then I worked on the placement of the trees which was difficult. Both scenarios looked good. Eventually I decided I liked them better all grouped together since the lone one would've been too close to the sun and also Lily's head. I just love how you can see the tree branches through the rice paper.

The last thing I did was use an exacto knife to cut out the white section between Lily & Billy's heads to show more of the hills in the background. It was scary because it required so much precision and control. One slip and I would've had to restamp and recolour the focal image! I was in luck and thankfully not my usual clumsy self. I don't think I'll ever use or give away this card because I love it so much!

Here's the final result:

And some closeups:

Sources: DCWV (striped square), SBD (card), Staples (trees) and Halcraft cardstock (all white areas); Provo Craft paper; random Japanese rice paper (greenery on trees); Pink Cat Studio Lily & Billy Sweetheart stamp; Memories Black ink; Copic markers; sentiment of an unknown brand; SU! Taken With Teal ink; McGill square punch; Chapel Road Artstamps cobble background stamp; McGill circle punches; Kane wavy scissors; Marvy Uchida tree punch; random Japanese rice paper; Martha Stewart picket fence edge punch; Versafine Archival Smokey Gray instant dry pigment ink