UDI Inspiration Challenge - A Plaid Dilemna

Welcome to Thursday stampers! It's that time again - the UDI Blog Inspiration Challenge. Ya'll remember last week and the difficulty I had figuring out just what to do with the inspiration piece, well this week was more of the same, but for different reasons.
This week, I had so MANY ideas and directions to go in, I just didn't know which way to turn.

Here is the inspiration piece that we were given to work with, what do you see in it?

Yep, I thought about a picnic blanket, a party invitation, a table cloth, a Father's Day theme, yep, yep, yep - all of the above and then some. But did I go with any of those?!
Noooooo!!!

I sat down to start creating and ended up with this:

At least it has a plaid background and the right colors! LOL!

Actually, I'm really happy with the finished card, it may look nothing like the inspiration piece, but it's what I was inspired to make, so it's all good, right? :)

To make the card base, I folded my Whisper white cardstock in half lengthwise and ran the front panel through my Big Shot with one of the Texturz Plates to give it the plaid-like background. I then pulled out cardstock in Real Red, Basic Black and more Whisper White for the panels. The stamp set, The Things I Love, was one that I'd only used once since I'd received it at convention last year and I thought it was high time to get it out!

I stamped all the images with Basic Black Craft ink and heat embossed them with Clear Embossing Powder and my Heat Tool. They look so cool, all raised and shiny - very chic!

For the bow, I got out some of my very fave ribbon, the Real Red Polka Dot and wrapped one piece around all the stacked layers, securing it to the back. I took another piece and folded it in on itself to make a faux bow and laid it on the wrapped ribbon. After fully opening up the prongs of a large Clear Rhinestone Brad, I then wrapped the prongs around all the ribbon layers and folded them behind the ribbon, securing it all together.
Once I had the ribbon done, I added Stampin' Dimensionals to the panel and added it to the card front.

Now for the inside:

I actually added an additional panel inside for the stamped greeting and another piece of that yummy ribbon! It added more stability to the card since the front was so heavy.

So, there you have it - do you likey?! :)
I sure hope so and I'd love to hear from you - at Jan's meeting on Saturday, so many of the gals attending said that they read my blog, but they don't comment. I invited them to do so because it's kind of like saying "Hi!" and I love to know that you've visited me!

Have a wonderful Thursday everyone - the sun is shining bright here and I have new energy today which I'll share with you soon. Stampin' Up! has made it possible for me to possibly earn the Alaska cruise this year by announcing Double Points yesterday, but I'm going to need help from my clients and friends to get there. There is nothing I'd like more than to be able to gift my husband with this Alaska trip - his dream trip - after the very difficult year that God has led us through. So, we will see. Perhaps that is the blessing that is waiting for us!

Stamped blessings, everyone!
~~Robin