Gonna be O.K.

Sandy Allnock recently posted about sending encouragement cards to the rescue workers in the Houston, TX, area. Since we live only a few hundred miles north of there, I've been seeing a lot from friends about the devastation & horrors; but also about the generosity that has been going on there. I decided to make a few cards to send to the first responders in the area.

Sandy suggested making cards aimed at both men & women. This first one of mine definitely falls in the latter category! I really decided to play & experiment a little with the flowers & leaves on this card. Using the "Bold Blooms" stamps from the Essentials by Ellen line, I first tried "inking" up 2 of the stamps with Tombow markers, misting with water, and stamping onto Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper. While that was nice, I didn't really like the uncolored spaces between the stamp lines. So I tried again, this time misting the paper rather than the stamp. Again, an OK look, but now a bit too mushy. Finally, I just scribbled spots on scraps of bristol paper with the markers, spritzed it generously with water, and dried that with my heat tool. Then I stamped the leaf & flower in Versamark ink, and heat embossed with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder. Finally--I had the definition I wanted, and the all-over color! I created a total of 5 each of the smaller flower & leaf, & cut them out with the coordinating dies.

For my panel, I stamped the "Wood Plank Background" from My Favorite Things onto a piece of ivory cardstock, with Hero Arts Wet Cement ink. I wanted some interest in the background, but didn't want it to compete with my main elements.

I stamped the greeting, from Essentials by Ellen "Up the Happy" set, in Versamark on another scrap of bristol, and heat embossed it with Liquid Platinum. I die cut it with a Simon Says Stamp "Stitched Circles" die. To create an ombre look, I took one of my pink markers that I had used on the flowers and colored the bottom part of the circle, bringing the color up maybe 1/4 of the way. Then I took my water brush, and spread the color up the rest of the circle, letting it fade out to a pale pink at the top.

To complete my card, I adhered the greeting, so it is centered on a "line" about 1/3 of the way from the right side of the card, in accord with the Rule of Thirds. I arranged my flowers & leaves, and glued them to the panel with liquid glue. When that had dried, I trimmed off the overhanging bits with scissors. Finally, I adhered my card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Ellen Hutson's August "Pin-Sights" challenge
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge: "Anything Goes"
613 Avenue Create: "Anything Goes"