XOXO

Hello hello!
It's my day to post over at Meljen's Designs!  If I haven't said it before, I just love being a part of this team!  The ladies there are just amazing, and the images Melissa draws up melt my heart every time.  It actually makes it a little difficult to decide what image to use for my challenge and DT day cards.  I usually run through about 4 or 5 card ideas before finally settling on one to work up.

That was totally the case with this card. I had so many ideas in my head that I didn't get this one finished until late last night because it took me so long to decide what to do!  Lol...but it turned out perfect!

The only thing I'm not happy with is the fact that the watercolor paper isn't white...I love the Strathmore watercolor paper...but the slightly off/cream color that it has is a struggle for me because I like having bright whites on my cards.  I usually try to cover it all up with another color if I'm going to have patterned papers on the card, but it didn't really work out for this card.

I started this card by die cutting the striped panel in the background with the Falling Hearts Die from Simon Says Stamp.  I got this for Christmas and absolutely love it!!  I lined that sheet with some black cardstock so the hearts would pop out a bit from the busy colored stripes.

Printed off the XOXO Stitches image and colored it in with some watercolor pencils.  I used my wink of stella glitter brush pen (refilled with water) and spread the watercolor around to give a nice shaded look.  The whole thing is so sparkly!  I love it!  I did use a really soft pink around the whole outside of the image to try and cover up the cream paper, but it was so light that it just kind of got lost back there...

To decorate the card, I added a few scallops cut with my Borderlines Trio die from Mama Elephant.  I cut out a little notch in the top corner and added a little scallop oval and a button, and then finished everything off with some black and white twine.

I had planned on this card being more masculine, but it's not really.. Just a perfect card for Valentine's Day :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Send a Smile 4 Kids-Valentine's/Love 
    Simon Says Stamp-Something New
    SugarPea Designs Sketch 18
    The Crazy Challenge #188-Buttons

Thanks for stopping by!!  Have a fabulous day! <3