Fusion #1

ETA: I'm entering this into Papertey's Stamp-a-faire 2013 Recipe Remix.  Truthfully there are a bunch of cards that I wouldn't mind having PTI's fabulous DT share their expert opinions about, but as I was going through my cards this one stood out.  I distinctly remember struggling to get the idea I had in my head out onto paper, and I was never quite sure the finished card captured all I was going for. 

Fusion is such a unique new challenge that I had to try it out tonight.  I planned on only using the sketch portion of the challenge, but as I was looking through my stamps I couldn't get the inspiration photo out of my mind, especially the black and white striped mat at the bottom.  Then I saw the striped circle in Papertrey's Simple Circles set, and I knew I had to combine the challenges.  It was just too much like the mat and I knew I could make a chevron pattern out of it.  And sticking with my week's theme (well...last week's theme....I made this card Saturday) of branching out of my comfort zone, I decided to make a masculine card.  I was also inspired by the gradient colors of the flowers in the inspiration photo, which translated to gradient colors (minus the pink) in the letters on my card.  I have a couple more ideas for the challenge...just hoping I get a chance to try them out.