AEIO Missing U

This is my second card for the Hero Arts "Tic-Tac-Toe" challenge. The squares I chose from the challenge graphic are "Watercolor," "Tag," & "Favorite Color" (blue). I will also be sending this card to Operation Write Home, as part of my final shipment next month.

I used one of the sketches from My Favorite Things that accompanies their "Blueprints 13" die set. I also used several of the dies from that set. I first die cut my background panel from 140 lb. watercolor paper. Then I scribbled 4 different blue gelatos on my craft mat. After taping the paper to my cutting board, I spritzed it liberally with water. I took a wet paintbrush, and also liquefied the gelato colors. I then painted the background with that mixture. The color was not nearly as intense as I wanted it, though, so after blotting off some of the water from the paper, I scribbled directly on it with the gelatos. Then I used my fingers to move the color around, since I've found that, even with water, I get better blending that way. I continued in this manner until I got the color intensity and blending I wanted. Then I set that aside to dry.

I die cut a banner from vellum, and the tag from white cardstock. I stamped the greeting, from Hero Arts' "Year Round Sentiments," on the tag, using Hero Arts' Pool ink. I used the same ink to stamp the largest heart from that set on a piece of pale blue cardstock. For the heart, I used the "rock 'n' roll" technique, "rolling" a Tsukineko Platinum Planet pigment ink pad around the edges of the stamp, then stamping the heart again. Thankfully, I had it mounted on my MISTI, so it was very easy to stamp it in the same spot again. Because the pigment ink tends to take a LONG time to dry, I set that aside.

After my watercolor panel had dried, I moved it from the cutting board to my non-stick craft sheet. I taped the Hero Arts/Basicgrey "Repeating Loops" stencil over it, and spread Golden's Light Molding Paste over the stencil. Once I had the coverage I wanted, I carefully removed the stencil and cleaned that, my craft mat, and my palette knife immediately, before the molding paste could harden. I set the panel aside again to let the paste dry.

Once the paste had dried completely, I measured the banner and tag against it. Because they are longer than the width of the panel, I had to cut a bit off the end of each. Since the gelatos had seeped under the tape I had around the edges of the main panel, I ended up inking around it with Mermaid Lagoon Distress ink. Once I'd done that, I adhered the tag to the banner, and adhered the banner to my card front,hiding my adhesive under the tag. I poked holes around the vellum, using the holes in my Tim Holtz ruler as a template. Then I stitched through the holes with silver embroidery floss. This not only added a decorative element, but also helps hold the vellum in place--especially important since this card is for OWH, and will likely be handled quite a bit.

Finally, I fussy cut the stamped heart, leaving a small border around it, and glued it in place. I felt the white tag needed a little something something, so I took one of the hearts from Simon Says Stamp's "Watts Up" set and stamped it several times in Stampabilities' "Baby Blue" ink. I adhered my completed panel to a white A2 card base, and I was done!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

A Blog Named Hero "Favorites" (favorite color)
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Favorite Technique and/or Product" (favorite         techniques--watercoloring & stenciling)
Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Don't Cut, Just Paste"