A Hope-You're-Feeling-Better Card

I seem to only have Sunday afternoons and late, late at nights once in a while to stamp lately, but I was very motivated to make a card for an 80-something friend who got in a car accident and is now hospitalized recovering. I'm also determined to use what I have around and keep it simple but beautiful :o)

Click photo for more detail

Card measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

ooh - look how artistic I'm getting with my photos! Maybe some day a fancy backdrop LOL

I had the opportunity to go to a used stamp sale Satruday (Hi Laurie, hi Cheryl!) and purchased this beautiful sunflower stamp. It was sitting on my desk when I decided I "needed" to make a card and it called out to me! I knew I wanted subdued colors so I decided to use Distress inks to match a background I had in my Technique Junkies folders of past techniques I've tried and not used yet.

The background is a form of the Watercolor Distress technique from the Feb 07 Technique Junkie newsletter. I used Distress Weathered Wood. I pressed the pad onto a waterproof sheet in an area a little bigger than my cardstock, sprayed fine mist water over, and laid the cs on it.

I stamped the Sunflowers (Art Impressions) on white cs using Staz-On Timber Brown, then colored it in with Stampin' Up! blender pens and Distress Inks (Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint, Tea Dye and Weathered Wood). I used a waterbrush and Tea Dye around the vase for some dimension. I inked up the Stampin' Up! Canvas bkgd stamp in Antique Linen, stamped it off once on scrap paper, and used the second generation impression over the whole sunflower panel. (Thanks to Michelle Z. for this!) I used a Tim Holtz distressing tool on the edges, and then sponged more Antique Linen around the edges. I mounted this panel to a slightly larger green panel.

I made a little tag and stamped the greeting (Hero Arts, I believe - it's not marked anything) in the Peeled Paint ink, then sponged some Antique Linen around the edges. I crumpled up a scrap of the green cs, flattened it out, and then sponged Antique Linen over the creases and along the edges. I tied a piece of twine onto the white tag and wrapped it around this. I tacked it down over a woven ribbon I purchased at JoAnn's. The main panel is pop-dotted over this, and the whole panel is adhered to a SU Bordering Blue piece of cs. After I finished up I felt like I wanted to add Dimensional glue to the vase and brown Fun Flock to the flower centers - oh, and white gel pen to some petals. But I've ruined untold numbers of finished cards by adding "just one more thing" so I'm saving all my bright ideas for the next one LOL

And that's it! An arty little everyday card that will hopefully brighten some one's day :o)