Missing U

Hero Arts has been having a "Tic-Tac-Toe" challenge on their blog this month. I decided to make one final card for that, using the squares for heat embossing, die cutting, and my favorite color (blue) from the inspiration graphic.

I die cut a panel of pale blue cardstock with the largest of Lawn Fawn's "Large Stitched Rectangle" dies. In Photoshop, I then created a blank "canvas" sized to a portrait A2 card. (I did end up later using my printed piece in a landscape orientation.) I copied one of the files from Hero Arts' "Artistic Circles" digital set onto that canvas, then used a hue/saturation adjustment layer to change the color to blue. Next I created a gradiant layer, and clipped those 2 layers to the "Artistic Circles" layer. In effect, this colored the design with a gradated blue, making the middle lighter than the edges. Finally, I printed the pattern directly on to the blue cardstock panel.

For the greeting, I stamped one from Hero Arts' "Year Round Sentiments" onto a scrap of white cardstock, & heat embossed it with Ranger's Liquid Platinum embossing powder. Then I die cut that with one of the "Hearts" dies by Little B, and also cut the little cross stitches with one of the other "Hearts" dies. I inked it with Stormy Sky Distress ink on an ink blender tool, making the edges darker than the middle. I traced the heart onto a piece of craft foam, then cut that out, slightly smaller than the cardstock piece. I glued the foam on the back of the die cut with Ranger Multi Medium Gloss.

I decided to pull out one of my Sew Ribbon tools, which I have not used in ages. After deciding where to place the heart (which I wanted over the ribbon), I pierced the slits into my background panel, and threaded some ribbon I'd gotten from Ellen Hutson through the slits. I finished that by taping the ribbon ends to the back of the panel. Finally, I glued the greeting heart to the panel, over the ribbon, and mounted the finished card front to a white A2 card base. I will be sending this card in my final shipment to Operation Write Home.

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

Operation Write Home June challenge: "Missing You" (sponsored by Our Daily Bread Designs)
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"