EVENTUALLY EVERYTHING CONNECTS

I have the honor over the next two weeks to be Guest Designer at Time Out Challenge #312 - "Photo Inspiration". As you can see below, the inspirational photo is a bridge over water.

https://timeoutchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/04/challenge-312.html

I won't pretend that this wasn't challenging for me. I scratched my head for a good two weeks before finally giving up on the idea of actually building or fabricating some sort of bridge similar to that in the photo. Nothing worked for me, so I started thinking about bridges as connections, and came across an old AALL & CREATE (#197) stamp set in my stash with a small image hiding out with the sentiment "eventually everything connects" and I decided to follow through on using it.

I wanted to at least make a nod toward the water and sky elements of our beautiful inspiration photo, so pulled out a Hero Arts Color Layering Waves stamp set. I knew that in order to do a similar evening tone on my card I wanted to start with some orange card stock. What I found in my orange bin was two scraps of an old script-printed paper, each from different areas of the old sheet. I trimmed the larger scrap with a stitched rectangular die and mounted it to a dark warm gray card base. Then I over-printed the bottom portion of the smaller scrap with the layered stamps in gray tones, blocked it off, and blended gray and pinks for the sky. I added some birds and die cut an Alexandra Renke floral stem out of the inked and blended water/sky scene and glued several layers to give it some dimension. I stamped the wreath and sentiment on the larger panel with warm gray ink and then layered the smaller rectangle over the panel, lining up the script, and again stamped the sentiment. 

I stared at this card for quite a while, trying to decide if it was completed! It's a bit odd. I could think of ways to improve it, but alas, I have no more pieces of the orange script paper! So I just made a coordinating dark warm gray envelope and left it as is.

Here's the good news! DoodlebugsWA is offering a $25 store credit for the winner of this challenge! 

ON A PERSONAL NOTE:

Well, it's finally happening - I'm actually retiring this month! Yes, I know I said that six years ago, but I kept being called back into service, "Oh, Fran, just one more project for us." This time it's for keeps. I'm leaving behind a really nice project as my swansong. Everyone on the project was wonderful, from the client to the architect to all of the contractors. Most of the furniture arrived last week and is in place and I spent three hours yesterday with a framer to re-mat and frame a bunch of wonderful art pieces from the owner's collection. The space will be occupied formally the second week of May.

This is a view across the lounge from the espresso bar. The space is on the 4th floor of the building, so you can see that there's a wonderful view of the downtown. The darker area to the left is a glass wall with the board room beyond. The two small paintings  are now at the framer's being re-framed. When everything is completed, I'll share more photos.