Clean and Simple Cardmaking 2 - Day 4

I loved Julie Ebersole's card from class today - and I realised when I went through my stash that I have the Dogwood stamp she used, but a smaller version in the Antique Engravings set from Hero Arts and Sizzix.  I made a dark grey card with it, and white embossed it - mistake!  Most of the detail disappeared, so I tried again with different stamps (Butterfly flowers and Always so thoughtful, both from Hero Arts), and with white card stock.

However, I made a boo-boo with the next card, too - I've come to rely on using clear stamps, and the sentiment stamp on the card below is wood mounted, but it has been put onto the wood block sligthly crooked, so lining up the wood ended with a crooked sentiment.  So the card below is a 3rd attempt for today (after using a t-square ruler and a stamp-a-ma-jig)! 

The border stamp at the bottom (a Lawn Fawn stamp from "Belinda's Borders") was a late addition - I decided that the sentiment was a bit too far from the bottom of the card, so I thought a thin border would anchor the card.  Even with three fairly large-ish stamps, there's still plenty of white space :)

 I hope you're having more success with your cardmaking attempts than I am today!  LOL!