I Love You to the Moon and Back

Our Daily Bread Design's current challenge is to use pink, white or ivory, & tan on a project. I had also recently seen a video post by Laurel Beard on stencil stamping. So I decided to use that technique and those colors to create a card.

For my card, I chose the second version of Operation Write Home's Sketch #227:

Since the "Dahlia" stamp by ODBD is about 3-1/2" wide, I decided to make the main panel about that diameter, and eliminate the mat. I stamped the image onto watercolor paper with Hero Arts' Unicorn white pigment ink, then heat embossed it with American Crafts' Zing Clear embossing powder. I had seen Kristina Werner do something similar in this post on her blog, and thought it would be perfect for this image.

After the embossing powder cooled, I pressed Distress ink pads in Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, & Festive Berries onto an acrylic block. Then I took my water brush, added water to the inks, and painted inside the embossed lines, being careful to blend out any hard edges. I went back and forth with my colors, until I got it like I wanted. I die cut the piece with a Spellbinders Classic Circles die. I then colored around the flower with Frayed Burlap Distress ink, using the same painting technique, to make the image pop a little more. I also inked around the edges with Frayed Burlap, to provide a little bit of a "mat."

For the background, I used My Favorite Things "Petal Circles" stencil. I inked it with Worn Lipstick, then spritzed the ink lightly with water before pressing it onto a piece of watercolor paper. It did take me a few tries, but I finally got a good result. I also embossed a piece of tan cardstock with the "Patterned Lace" embossing folder by Sizzix. I inked the top & bottom edges of that strip with Frayed Burlap, before adhering it to the background panel.

Since I didn't want to cover up the dahlia too much, I decided to stamp the greeting on a piece of vellum. I chose 2 stamps from the "Love Languages" set by Simon Says Stamp. I used Versafine Onyx Black ink to stamp them, then clear heat embossed the greeting. I felt the heart needed a bit more, so I colored it on the back with a red marker. Finally, I cut the strip, rounded the left corners with my 1/4" Corner Chomper, and applied adhesive to the back with my Xyron Create-a-Sticker machine. I glued the dahlia piece to the card front, and then adhered the greeting strip, slightly overlapping that.

The last step was to ink the front of an A2 size card base with Frayed Burlap, then glue the card front panel to that.

I'm also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Stencil It" challenge.