WWC88 - Love you!

Welcome to the challenge I'm hosting this week.  It's a sketch which I went a bit crazy designing with all those background lines and splotches but I think it has a lot of possibilities.  I hope you do, too, and are inspired to create a wonderful card which you will link up and share with us.

One thing that I've always loved about sketch challenges is that as long as one can still identify the sketch, there is a world of leeway in using it.  While I decided not to flip it on its side or turn it upside down, I had a lot of fun with that background, firstly by using a technique which I had never tried before, and secondly by stamping lightly over it to create the atmosphere that I had in mind.  While the sketch may appear very bold, I chose to use it to create a much softer, romantic card.  I hope you like it.

I began with a base of Heavy Whisper White.  Then I added a layer of Soft Sky which would be a matte for the stamped layer of Shimmery White specialty paper.  What I did with that Shimmery White layer was not just stamping.  The blotchy, oddly patterned area was my first attempt at the Bubble Magic Technique.  I first saw it in a card made by Dawn Olchefske.  Better still, she made an easy to follow video.  While I like the bubbles on my card, hers are much more airy.  But, for this card, it works.  When my  bubble-painted area finally dried, I was able to begin creating my card and for that I used the beautiful Touches of Texture stamp set.  The flower outlines in that set really appealed to me and there were splotches that I could use to colour the flowers and also to stamp centres.  I used Crumb Cake ink for the outline and the lovely Sweet Sugarplum ink for the stamped "blotchy" colouring (off-stamped to make the images softer and lighter) and Delightful Dijon for the centres.  The bee is also from the same set and is coloured using the Delightful Dijon.

For the main image and sentiment I turned to the Sunshine Wishes thinlits.  The thinlits heart is wonderfully abstract with a scribbled outline.  I cut it out twice, once from the Soft Sky cardstock and another time from the Sweet Sugarplum cardstock.  I used the "scribbles" from the Soft Sky and the centre from the Soft Sugarplum.  Before adding the centre, however, I ran the heart through my Big Shot using the Confetti embossing folder.  The added texture makes all the difference.  The "love" is cut using the same set of thinlits and Crumb Cake cardstock.  I love the size of the lettering and the style.  To finish the sentiment off, I used the "you" from the matching Sunshine Sayings stamp set and Crumb Cake ink.

To complete the design, I added three gold sequins to the upper left corner.  They compliment the Delightful Dijon quite nicely.

This was a fun card to create.  I hope you'll check out the cards created by the other Watercooler Artists at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Better still, check them out and link one up yourself.