You're the Best

The Essentials by Ellen August Pin-Sights challenge uses a bright, summery mood board for the inspiration:

For this card, I was inspired by the diagonal stripes and flowing lines of the dress. The one "deviation" I made was using more of a red than hot pink. On my computer screen, the pink in the dress looked more red. Oh well!

I began by cutting a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper to 4.25x5.5". I marked diagonal lines lightly in pencil on the panel, and used those to line up my "Classic Triple Scallop" die by Spellbinders. I ran that through my Grand Calibur die cutting machine to cut out all the strips. Like I did with this card, I made sure to number the strips on the back as I cut, so I could reassemble them in order without any trouble.

After I finished cutting my strips, I decided what order I wanted my colors in. I used Distress inks in Squeezed Lemonade and Abandoned Coral on 5 of the strips, leaving the remaining sections plain. I applied the inks directly to the paper, and then spritzed the strips with my homemade Perfect Pearls mist. I also misted the white sections. Then I set those aside to dry.

For the floral elements, I used some of the dies from the "Wild Garden" set, part of the Essentials by Ellen line, as well as one of the leaves from "Bold Blossom." I die cut the "leafier" elements from a light green cardstock. For the large flower, I created my own gold embossed cardstock, by smooshing Versamark ink onto a piece of white cardstock, and heat embossing it with Ranger Gold embossing powder. Then I die cut my flower from that, keeping only the outline portion. I inked a piece of 90 lb. watercolor paper with a light application of Abandoned Coral, then die cut the flower from that for the center portions of the petals.

By this time my background strips were dry. I cut a piece of white cardstock to 4.25x5.5", and applied adhesive to one side with my Xyron Creative Station. Then I stuck my strips to that, going from the bottom right corner up. Then it was time to adhere the floral elements.

I ran the green pieces through my Xyron Sticker Maker, to coat the back side with adhesive. I just placed the flower where I wanted it, then used that as a guide to adhere my leaf & stem pieces. Finally, I glued the gold floral outline piece to my panel with my 2-way glue pen. I glued in the pink pieces, and used Onyx Pearl Liquid Pearls in the center. Finally, I cut off the parts that were hanging over the edges.

For the greeting, I used one from the "Word Labels" stamp & die set by Sizzix. I stamped it on a piece of 90 lb. watercolor paper in Versamark ink, then heat embossed it with gold. I die cut that with one of the dies in the set, and inked the piece with Abandoned Coral. I cut the very top edge off, and traced around the scalloped edges with a black gel pen. After that dried, I adhered it to my card front. To finish, I mounted the finished panel to a white A2 card base. I will be sending this card to Send a Smile 4 Kids. Hopefully it can brighten the day of a teen girl who is in the hospital!

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

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Send a Smile 4 Kids "Anything Goes 4 Kids"
Live Love Cards September "Sparkle & Shine"