Gingersnap Office Items Challenge

Hello Friends -

I could use some feedback here.  I am a huge fan of the vintage/grunge/shabby style of papercrafting but I'm not very confident about my execution.  To add to my nervousness, the creations over at Gingersnaps are incredible.  I think they are really amazing and over the top gorgeous.  So, I've been checking out the work they do but I have never joined in one of their challenges.  However, I had some ideas for their challenge with office items.  I've been thinking about these paperclips which look a bit like the old typewriter keys. 

From there I searched for a vintage picture of an office.  I really wanted my card to have women in it, as opposed to the offices with all men.  I'm thinking about sending the card to one of my dear friends and an office full of men really wouldn't have been the right thing.

I was having trouble with the pattern paper so I stamped the typewriter image from the Hero Arts stamps I won from Papercraafter's Corner. 

With the ribbon I was going for the look of an old typerwriter ribbon.  Here on the Home Front I received a thumbs down on it looking anything like a typewriter ribbon.  I used rayon seam binding and covered it in Black Soot Distress Ink.  I can tell you my fingers look like I was changing typewriter ribbons.  What do you think?  Does it look like typewriter ribbon or just black ribbon crunched up? 

What would make this card work better, considering the vintage style?