Happy Mother's Day

Sandy Allnock of Operation Write Home created 20 tags by heat embossing images on cardstock. She sent them off to random commenters from 2 videos she posted on YouTube about this, including me. The idea is each crafter will take the tag and decorate it somehow, then use it on a card for OWH. We have to send the completed cards back by March 31, and she will make a video featuring them. One of the kickers is, there is no do-over. I got one tag, and that is it. No pressure now! Sandy did suggest we could make our own tags to practice before working on the real thing. So that's what I'm doing.

This card is Experiment #1. I began by die cutting a tag using the "Stitched Duo 1" tag die by Pretty Pink Posh from 110 lb. white cardstock, which is what Sandy used for the tags she sent out. After taping around the edges with painters tape to mask them, I stamped a butterfly (source unkown) several times in Versamark ink, then heat embossed those with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder.

I then took Distress inks in Shaded Lilac, Squeezed Lemonade, Tumbled Glass, and Cracked Pistachio and blended them on the tag using sponge daubers. Finally, I sprayed Perfect Pearls Mist in the Mint color over that. This helped blend & soften the colors a little more, and added a nice shimmer. I used a dry Q-tip to remove the mist off the butterflies, and let the tag dry.

While that was drying, I went through my collection of OWH sketches, looking for one that would work with this tag. I finally chose #93:

While the tag was a little smaller than the 3x4" panel in the sketch, I liked the layering idea, with a greeting over the top.

I cut another tag with the same die from a mint green cardstock. For the background and strip, I used 2 patterned papers in the "Canvas" 6x6" paper pad from Teresa Collins' "Fabrications" line. I cut them to size, and adhered the yellow strip over the background. I also die cut an oval using one of the "Stitched Tags" dies by Pretty Pink Posh for the greeting.

I used one of the greetings from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Mother's Day Sentiments" digital set. After scanning the oval into my computer, I opened that image in Photoshop. I sized the greeting to fit, then printed it directly onto the die cut. Finally, I inked around the edges with Shaded Lilac, just to add a little definition.

By this time, my focal tag had dried. I removed the tape from around the edges, and lined it up with the green tag behind it. I punched a hole through both tags, then threaded fibers through the hole, tying them together. I determined how far out to "swing" the green tag, then tacked them together with a little adhesive. I applied adhesive to the back of the tags with my ATG gun, and stuck them in place on the card front. I glued down the greeting oval, and finished off by adhering the completed card front to an A2-size base.

Unfortunately, I will not be sending this card to OWH. I noticed the Perfect Pearls mist does rub off. Cards with glitter that rubs off are not allowed, because the glitter makes our heroes in war zones visible to enemy night-vision goggles. I don't know if the Perfect Pearls would be like glitter in this case, but I figure it's better to be safe than sorry. So I will be giving this card to my mom for Mother's Day instead. I do like the inking technique I used though, so I may try it again with plain water. Or maybe with water splatters. But that's for another card....

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Virginia's View Challenge #13: Embossing