Before I start spouting on about design rules, these gorgeous flowers from the Round Roses set are part of the Clearly Besotted release which will go live tonight 10pm UK time, 5pm EST at both Clearly Besotted and Simon Says Stamp :D

I’ll ramble on for a few minutes here but there are more pictures of the card below if you just want to scroll straight down to those :D There are a variety of rules that apply in design. I don’t always stick to them, that’s the best thing with rules isn’t it, learn them so you can break them! However, one of the rules I do often keep in mind is the rule of thirds as it can make for a quick and easy design. Imagine drawing two vertical lines down a page splitting it in to three equal sections. Then repeat with two horizontal lines.

You end up with a grid of 9 squares and the rule of thirds says that placing items on one of the cross over points of the vertical and horizontal lines is pleasing to the eye. Effectively you have 4 hot spots – top left, top right, bottom right and bottom left.

In the card above the flowers are placed on the cross over point bottom left which leaves ‘white space’ for the eye allowing it to settle on the focal point.

I also keep thirds in mind when taking my card photographs. For the main photo of the card standing, I aim to place the card so it covers the right two thirds leaving the left third for a bit of breathing space and a good spot to place vases and washi tape to tie in colors. For a detail photograph I aim for the focal point to be in one of those ‘hot spots’ and finally for the overhead shot, again I aim for the card to be offset, this time to the left. But as I say, rules are made to be broken but it can be handy to know what they are before you break them!

Ok, back to the card and I stamped the circles that come as part of the Round Roses set in Soft Pool, the flower petal details in Pool and the flower centres in Navy. The leaves are stamped in Lime to Forever Green with the details in Olive and finally the sentiment is stamped in Intense Black.

Having stamped out the panel I accented it with the Share Handmade Kindness sequin mix and rhinestones before adding a Scallop Frame cut from Icy Mint. With the panel now complete I added it to a Fog card base.

The new release will go live at 10pm UK time, 5pm EST, tonight at Clearly Besotted and Simon Says Stamp. In the meantime check out Stephanie’s blog for more inspiration and links to the rest of the Design Team including our guest for February Keren Baker.

SUPPLIES

You can find links to the supplies I’ve used below; click on the picture or wording to get taken directly to the product. Where available I use affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support.

Clearly Besotted ROUND ROSES Clearly Besotted ROUND ROSES Dies SSS FOG Card Bazzill ICY MINT Card Neenah 80 LB SOLAR WHITE PPP SHARE HANDMADE KINDNESS MIX Sequins Hero Arts SOFT POOL Dye Ink Hero Arts POOL Dye Ink Hero Arts NAVY Dye Ink Hero Arts Ombre LIME TO FOREVER GREEN Dye Ink Pad SSS OLIVE Dye Ink SSS INTENSE BLACK Ink Pad Ranger MULTI MEDIUM MATTE MISTI Stamping Tool Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE 3M DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Martha Stewart MINI SCORING BOARD SSS SMALL TEFLON BONE FOLDER