Love/Hate with One Layer Cards

Hi Everyone!!  I wanted to share a quick attempt at a one layer card.  As the title suggests, I have a love/hate relationship with them.  I absolutely love one layer cards. They can go from elegant and classy to fun and cute!!  I dislike one layer cards because, well, I just can't pull that style off.  Or have a tough time doing so.
So, when the current Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge came out, I thought I'd give it a shot.  That, and I haven't participated in a challenge for awhile.

I started with an Oatmeal piece of cardstock and the Roses for You stamp set from Simon.

I embossed the front of the card base with a polka dot embossing folder, something I haven't used in a LONG time, so I cannot link to it!!  I also dug out of the embossing bin some embossing diffusers.  These are also one of the very first purchases I made when I started down this road, so I can't link to these either, but I think they are a Darice product.

To define the edge of the embossing, I tried to emboss with a stylus around the section which did not get embossed.  Well, all I ended up doing was going in a crooked line and starting to over-score (starting to tear the paper :)

I decided to take a marker in Sepia and drew stitch lines instead.

Next I stamped the flower images and a few leaves inside the rectangle, using Memento Rich Cocoa ink.

I used my Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor Pencils to color and outline the flowers...love those pencils, by the way!!  I got them through Amazon.ca.

So this is where I discovered I didn't leave a spot for a sentiment. No big deal if this wasn't a one layer card!!!  I couldn't use a sentiment from this stamp set, I needed to find something TINY, hopefully that would fit in between the embossed dots!  And wouldn't you know it, I found a mini stamp set, also from Simon Says called More Tag Words.  The word "friend" was tiny enough!!!  And also a vertical sentiment which I thought was kind of cool!!

I finished by inking around the edges of the card with the same Memento Ink and added a few candy dots that I found in my stash (StampinUp).

Here is the finished one layer card...

I did have fun with this (it was certainly a challenge), and maybe I'll try more!

Hope you enjoyed, thanks for stopping by!!

Laurie