Hugs & Kisses

Today I am sharing with you a Valentine card I've made for my Mom.  There's a ton of glitter and vintage pinks and purple (my Mom's favorite color).  This card started with a scrap of Designer cardstock I had in my recycle pile.  I ran it through my Big Kick with Tim Holtz' Valentine Texture Fade.  I spread a little gesso on a credit card edge and swiped it over the raised letters and let this dry.  Next, I inked it with Worn Lipstick Distress ink and gave the entire panel a thin coat of Glue and Seal and sprinkled it with Rock Candy Distress Glitter from my vintage salt shaker.  This is a technique Tim used for his 12 Tags of 2014-December, and I haven't put away my RCDG since joining in that challenge.

The pink layer beneath is pink card stock stamped around the edges with Tim's flourish image from Boundless Flight in Walnut Stain Distress ink.  I distressed the edges and swiped on some more Walnut Stain ink.

The gray layer is Designer paper (I'm trying to use more of this in my work--one of my crafty New Year's resolutions) which I distressed and inked as above. These 3 panels were adhered to a pink card base.

I swiped some Distress paints (Spun Sugar, Picket Fence and the teensiest bit of Seedless Preserves) on my craft mat and spritzed with water and dragged a scrap of white cardstock through the puddle and swirled it around to get a marbled effect.  Before it dried I sprinkled with more RCDG.  I allowed it to dry on it's own.  When dry, I cut a flourish from it with Tim's flourish die and hand cut a small heart.  Both were edged in Vintage Photo Distress ink.

The brown heart was cut using a Sizzix die from Designer paper scrap.  I heat embossed Tim's script from Urban Grunge in pink embossing powder.  I swirled some more Distress paints (included lots of  Seedless Preserves this time) on another scrap of white card stock and sprayed with Ranger Perfect Pearls mist.  I hand cut a heart out of this card to back the brown heart and distressed and inked the edges.

For my largest heart I used Tim's Rock Candy Distress Glitter Technique found on page 55 of his book A Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 3.  There's a fabulous party going on over at Linda Ledbetter's Studio L3 called Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge where she chooses one technique from Tim's book each fortnight and challenges us crafty bloggers to create an original piece of art OF OUR CHOICE using that method.  You have to work from your own book; out of respect to Tim they are not divulging the ins and outs of the technique, but the good news is you can get your own autographed copy from Tim on his website. You still have time to join in, so grab your copy and your glitter and get to work!  You'll be so happy you did, because not only will you learn a simple, but effective Tim technique, there are TWO prizes up for grabs:  If the Curiosity Crew picks your entry as their favorite you will win an incredible array of Tim's goodies donated by Tim and Mario, and if you are the lucky winner, you will receive a very generous $50 shopping spree to Inspiration Emporium donated by owners Joy and her family. What are you waiting for???

I can't tell you how I made my heart, but I can tell you I used the same image as my pink layer and the heart base is actually cut from a Designer paper.  I took the brightness out by swiping it with Old Paper Distress ink and edging with Vintage Photo. It's hard to pick up that wonderful shimmer on camera, especially on a dark rainy day like today, but this card is practically ready to take off on it's own!

Annie is hosting a fun Tic Tac Toe challenge at A Vintage Journey, where the idea is to choose a line from her game board and include at least one of each element from each square in that line.  I chose Ribbon (seam binding), die cuts (Flourish and heart), and  stains (Distress) AND metal embellishment (key), sprays (Vintage Photo Distress spray and Perfect Pearl mist) and ribbon to complete my horizontal and vertical lines(what can I say, I'm an over-achiever!).  Don't despair, you only have to complete one line!

I used Distress stains to color my seam binding (Spun Sugar and Seedless Preserves), I also added a little Spun sugar Distress Paint and crumpled it up to crinkle and dried it partially with my heat gun.  When it was still slightly damp, I gave it a squirt with my one and only  Distress Spray--Vintage Photo and allowed that to seep in, then gave it another heat gun blast to halt the blending.  I tied this up into a little shabby bow.

My metal key embellishment started out silver and was recovered from my stash.  I gave it a little alcohol ink coloring using Teak and Snowcap.  I attached it to the bow using a jump ring.

The pretty little silver and purple heart started today as a gold-toned plastic button from my stash.  I removed the shanks and used silver mixative to color the entire button.  When dry, I added a little Currant alcohol ink to the recessed areas.  When totally dry, I swiped on some Vintage Photo Distress spray with my finger to give it an antique quality.

The edges look a little green here--not the true color!

I hope you like my card, and I hope my Mom will like it, too!

I realized I hadn't distressed the edges of my base card, so after doing so, I took another shot.  This was taken at a different time of day, so the coloring of the  is a little different. Neither is the true color.

That's it for today!  Thank you for stopping in and for leaving your lovely comments! They mean so much to me! Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily

I would like to enter this into the following inspirational challenges:

Studio L3 Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge #21 Rock Candy Distress Glitter

A Vintage Journey "It's Time to Play Tic Tac Toe!" I used ribbon, die cuts and stains, as well as practically everything else!

The Mixed Media Card Challenge #8 "Love" I've included the optional element-buttons.


The Artistic Stamper February's Creative Challenge "Love"

Inspiration Journal "Love is in the Air!"

Artist Trading Post Exchange "Love is in the Air!"

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #9 "Think Pink" Pink is used throughout my card.