It's Your Day

Ellen Hutson is having their "Pin-sights" challenge over in The CLASSroom. They posted the following mood board, and participants are to make a project inspired by it, featuring at least one Essentials by Ellen product.

Even though I currently have all of two products from that line, I decided to go for it. My inspiration came from the color palette, polka dots, and the brush lettering. This card by Laurel Beard also inspired my design.

I began by die cutting a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper with Lawn Fawn's "Stitched Journaling Card" die. I stamped my greeting, from the Essentials by Ellen "Wish Big" stamp set, towards the bottom, using Hero Arts Charcoal Mid-tone Shadow ink. I was able to stamp it twice, using my MISTI, to get a bolder look, similar to the brush lettering in the mood board. Next, I stamped one of the balloons from the same stamp set several times, using Distress inks in Mowed Lawn, Cracked Pistachio, Picked Raspberry, and Worn Lipstick. I then used those same colors to watercolor the balloons. (As a child, I was always fascinated by bunches of transparent balloons, so I was happy I could achieve that look here!)

For the background, I die cut another piece of watercolor paper using the scalloped frame from Mama Elephant's "Femme Frames" set. I stamped one of the dot clusters from the Essentials by Ellen "Bokeh Dots" set numerous times around the perimeter, with Tsukineko Brilliance Cosmic Copper pigment ink. I filled in some empty spots with another of the single dot stamps in that set, then used Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder to heat emboss the dots. I smooshed Mowed Lawn & Cracked Pistachio on my non-stick craft mat, then spritzed the ink generously with water. I laid my watercolor panel face down in the ink puddles, pouncing and smooshing it to get complete coverage. After drying it with my heat tool, I pounced it in the ink a few more times, to get some more defined ink spots. Then I set that aside to air dry.

Once my background panel had dried, I adhered it to a piece of dark grey cardstock, to echo the charcoal color of the greeting. I drew strings coming down from the balloons on my focal panel, using my T-square ruler and a grey fine-tipped marker. Then I used some Ranger Multi Medium Gloss to glue a piece of fun foam to the back of that panel, before gluing it to my background. Finally, I adhered the completed card front to an A2 card base. And that finished this card for Operation Write Home!

I'm also entering my card in Virginia's View Challenge #14: "Layers and Dimensions."