Inky Fun Flourish Thank You For Being You Card For Michelle

This is the card I sent to the lovely Michelle from the Card Grotto blog to say thank you for a generous gift she sent to me. A few weeks ago I saw Gilly Haigh demonstrate with Tim Holtz Distress products at the Glitter Pot.  She had some fab creations on display and made some gorgeous backgrounds while she demonstrated.  She was so enthusiastic and very happy to answer lots of questions.  That really gave me the confidence to break out my non stick craft sheet, Distress Inks and water spritzer and get inky!  By the way, it's all Gilly's fault that the gorgeous Hero Arts Fabulous Flourish stamp had to join my collection!

I know Michelle loves purple and I'm loving aqua these days and I thought a combination of the two would make an interesting combo.  I patted Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Dusty Concord inks on my craft mat, spritzed generously with water and then applied my white CS panel to the mat to transfer the colour.  You need to use an uncoated CS for this.  I've tried with various CS, ones that are too thick tend to soak up the ink - with coated card you don't get even coverage, the results can be grainy and blotchy, a medium weight works well though and that's what Gilly recommended for best results.  This is such a messy technique, you are definitely going to get inky fingers but it's great fun!  At this stage it's tempting to look at your wet CS and think "oh my word, I've just made an awful mess"!  In the past when I've tried this technique this is the point where I'd throw my 'mess' in the bin and move onto something else.  However, this time, because of Gilly's encouragement, I kept going - I blasted my panel with my heat gun to dry it.  Phew, already it looked better!

Next I stamped the music background using Dusty Concord ink and then I stamped that fab flourish with VersaMark ink and embossed it with white embossing powder.  I trimmed the panel to size, inked the edges and then added shimmer by spritzing with Perfect Pearl mist.  Now it's definitely more 'art' than 'mess'!  I found the flowers in my stash, the bottom one is silky with a slight sheen and the top one is velvety - so lush!  I joined the two flowers together and attached them to the panel with a gorgeous SU! Antique brad.  Yep, I was happy to use one of these carefully hoarded treasures 'cos I know I can get more as they're now available from the new UK SU! catalogue!  I matted the panel on Broken China CS and that was layered onto a 5 3/4" square card made with Elegant Eggplant CS.  I stamped the music background on white CS, added the sentiment, punched it out with the SU! Decorative Label punch, sponged the edges, added a Broken China mat and popped it up.  The last thing for the card front was to add some pale purple rhinestones.

I cut a white panel for inside the card, stamped part of the flourish and inked the edges.

I also stamped the envelope and added a stamped, punched label.

I also sent Michelle a gift which I wrapped in silver tissue paper.  I made a tag using the same colours I'd used on the card and tied it onto the package with ribbon.  I really enjoyed making this, it was so very satisfying to play around and end up with something I was happy with.  I really like this colour combo and am itching to make a Christmas card with these colours.  Finally, I spent some time in the bathroom with my pumice stone to get rid of the ink stains LOL! 

Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts Fabulous Flourish & Music Background stamps, Thank You sentiment from SU! Best Blossoms set, sentiment on tag from SU! Yummy set, SU! Four Frames set
CS: SU! Elegant Eggplant & Whisper White, Glitter Pot medium weight white CS, Core'dinations Broken China CS
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Broken China & Dusty Concord, SU! Elegant Eggplant, VersaMark
Tools: SU! Decorative Label punch, Sizzix Rounded Tag Frameliits dies, PTI Beautiful Blooms II #1 die collection, sponge daubers, Ranger Mini Mister, Crafts Too heat resistant craft mat
Embellishments & accessories: white embossing powder, Perfect Pearls 'Perfect Pearl' mist, aqua satin ribbon, SU! Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbon, Bazzill flowers, SU! Antique brad, PaperMania glitter brad, rhinestones, 3d foam pads