So Special to Me

The current challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs' blog is an inspiration challenge. They posted this photo collage, and asked crafters to make cards inspired by one or more of the photos:

Since I've finished my fall-themed cards, I was most drawn to the doily in the 2 photos on the right side. I also liked the burgundy flower in the candle ring arrangement. So I decided to take my inspiration from those elements.

I did not use a pre-made sketch for my card's design. Rather, I just laid my stamps out on an A2-size card base and played around with placement. I finally decided to use a layer cut to 4x5.25" for my background, and mount it on a 4.25x5.5" (A2) card base.

I cut a piece of white cardstock to my layer size, and stamped Hero Arts' "Circle Lace" in the upper left corner with Versamark ink. I clear heat embossed it, and set that aside.

For my flower, I stamped all 3 of the "Sweet William Singles" stamps by Our Daily Bread Designs onto cream-colored cardstock, again with Versamark, and clear heat embossed them. I used Distress inks in Aged Mahogany and Fired Brick to ink the flowers. The base layer is Aged Mahogany only; the middle is Fired Brick with a little Aged Mahogany to tone it down a touch; and the top layer is a light coat of both colors. I fussy cut each flower, and wiped any ink left behind off the embossed areas. I glued the layers together, leaving the edges loose for a bit of added dimension, and inserted a silver heart-shaped mini brad through the middle.

For the background layer, I used Bundled Sage & Mowed Lawn Distress inks. I went over the whole layer with Bundled Sage, and then came in with some Mowed Lawn to darken areas. Again, I wiped the ink off the embossed doily.

For the greeting, I used a stamp from this Hero Arts set. I laid the stamp onto the background, and used the flower to help position it, lining it up with my ruler to get it straight. Once I had it where I wanted it, I picked it up with my Fiskars stamp press, and stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black ink. I added a bit of highlighting to the letters with a Sakura White Gelly Roll gel pen. Then I glued the flower to the base layer. Finally, I adhered the front to a white card base.

I'm also entering this card in a2z Scrapbooking's October challenge to use two "hard" (i.e. stamps/stencils) Hero Arts products.