Sending Hugs and Love

(I wrote in this post about the Lasting Hearts Card Drive that Jennifer McGuire is promoting on her blog. This is another card that I made for that.)

The January 2016 challenge at Live Love Cards is an inspiration challenge. The site's owner, Darlene DeVries, posted photos of 3 of her cards and challenged members to create one or more cards inspired by those. One of her cards used a stamped background, with one image highlighted. I took my inspiration for this card from that.

I didn't have an appropriate background stamp like Darlene had used, so I used the "Lily Blossom" stamp from Deep Red Stamps to create my background. I first cut a piece of white cardstock to 4.25x5.5". Then I stamped the image randomly over the panel, using Ranger Archival Watering Can ink. I used second-generation stamping to lighten the image--inking up my stamp, stamping off once on scratch paper, and then stamping on my background. I also stamped it once on 140 lb. watercolor paper, again using second-generation stamping so it would match. I colored that one image in with my Inktense pencils, blending the colors with a damp paintbrush. I then fussy cut it out, and "painted" around the edges with a grey marker, to hide the white core of the paper.

To make my background a bit more subtle, I blended Tea Dye Distress ink over the whole panel. I then took my colored flower, and popped it up over a corresponding image in the background with foam tape. I stamped the greeting, from the "Prayers" set by Simon Says Stamp & Hero Arts, on a piece of yellow cardstock, in Versafine Onyx Black ink. Channeling my inner Carissa Wiley, I cut the greeting into a strip, angled one end, and cut 3 more banners from green & orange cardstocks. I had intended to staple the right ends of the banners to my background panel, but inadvertently cut that end too close to the greeting. So I just glued those ends together, and adhered them to my panel, leaving the left ends of the top 3 strips loose. Finally, I adhered my card front to a white A2 card base.