Excited for You!

Happy Friday!
How has everyone been?  I hope your week was absolutely spectacular and you are ready for a super fun weekend!

I wanted to stop in quick today and share a little card using an image from the most recent Sami Stamps release.  This image is called Already Loved and is so precious!

I figured since I had done a blue card last week, I'd do a pink card this week.  I started by working on the background.  You know that I love to put together my own background designs.  It gives me a much bigger sense of accomplishment and pride in my card when I know I've put the whole thing together instead of trying to match up patterned paper...not sure why that is...I just love it though :)

So I started by taking a die cut from Simon Says Stamp that I just recently purchased and cutting it out several times.  I wanted one specific piece of it so needed to cut it out about 8 times in order to get enough to fill my background.  The die I used was the Heart of Roses die!  It's such a gorgeous die, but I loved that I could doctor it a bit and get a whole different look!  I cut out 2 roses that were connected and solid along with the 2 leaves connected to them.

To get the placement right, I laid them all out on my card base first, then sketched little lines around each one to know where they would sit.  I decided to color them all in with my chalks.  I was going to try and use distress inks, but I didn't know a good way to get a nice even coating in such small spaces, and the chalk seemed to be the best option.  I did slight shading for each flower and leaf but not a lot since they are small spaces.

Around each flower and leaf I filled in with a little bit of blue.  Once the chalk was all applied, I glued down my roses!  It turned out so perfect and soft!  I love this technique and will need to do it again soon!

I printed off and colored up my image with my Spectrum Noir pencils and then mounted it onto my card with some fun foam behind it for dimension.  Then went around each of the roses with a shimmer pen so there was just a touch of sparkle on the card.

So..Stinkin..Cute!!!  Honestly the picture doesn't do it justice because in person, the card is so precious.  I wish photos could properly portray something...

But, thanks for visiting!  Be sure to stop by Sami Stamps to see this sweet release and then join in our Anything Goes challenge!! <3

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Artistic Inspirations #156-Anything Goes/Die Cuts
    Crafty Catz #324-Dies/Punches
    Paper Play Sketches #7
    Sassy Studio #333-Anything Goes
    Simon Says Stamp-Flowers
    Word Art Wednesday #230-Anything Goes