Together Heart

I decided I better get moving and make a Valentine's Day card for my husband and this is what I came up with.  I know this has a lot of pink on it but my husband has a couple of fabulous plaid shirts that have predominately pink in them and he feels quite confident to wear them so I forged ahead - pink and all.  BTW, he eats quiche too :)

I started with some Recollections white card stock for my blank and then tackled the background.  The background started with a pink and white striped paper from a My Mind's Eye pad called Blush.  First I did some random stenciling - Wendy Vecchi Watering Can Archival Ink and a TCW stencil called Mini Chickenwire Reversed and then Aged Mahogany Distress Ink from Ranger and a Wendy Vecchi Stencil called Polka Dotty.

Then I used some Jet Black Archival Ink from Ranger to stamp some flourishes from Wendy Vecchi's Daisy Art stamp set.  The next step was to put some of Wendy's White Texture Paste through a cross hatch stencil that I made myself on my Cameo.  The final step for the background was to distress the edges and add some scraps of a polka dot paper from the MME pad to a couple of torn spots and then run the Aged Mahogany DI around the edge.

Next I used some Glue and Seal from Inkssentials to add a piece of old book paper to a scrap of white card stock.  Once it was dry I used some of the Aged Mahogany DI and a large multi heart stencil from Heidi Swapp to make all the little hearts.  I outlined each one with a black Pigma Micron pen.  I cut each one out and then took some Jet Black Archival Ink and stamped bits on each heart using the Wendy Vecchi Large Collage background stamp that I have cut into sections.  You will notice that the Aged Mahogany looks a little more brown on the old book paper and for a split second I throwing them out and starting over but then decided they were kind of funky and I was just going to live with them.

I took another scrap of Recollections card stock, cut a heart out of it and then ran it through a Tim Holtz embossing folder called Sheet Music.  I rubbed the raised areas with Treasure Gold Rose Quartz and a little bit of Jaygot Silver wax paste.  Next I took a scrap of floral paper from the MME pad and softened it with my crimper until it felt almost like fabric - a trick I learned from my friend Pamellia. Once it was soft enough I stamped it with some Aged Mahagony DI and a Recollections script stamp.

I added the softened paper to the back of the cutout and then added a couple layers of quilt batting cut in the heart shape and then a backing rectangle of card stock so the patterned paper now puffs out of the cutout.

Next I cut some filigree leaves with my Cameo from white card stock and then rubbed them with silver wax paste.  I made some shabby roses from a couple sizes of Marvy Uchida punches.  The little flowers were made from scraps of grey card stock and have Making Memories pewter brads for centres.  The larger flower is made from another paper from the MME pad.  All the flowers have had a bit of white acrylic paint added to the edges.

The sentiment was printed on my computer, cut into individual words and the edges were inked with Aged Mahogany DI.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Artist Trading Post Exchange - Love Is In The Air
Make Art Challenge - Hearts
The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Think Pink
Penny's Paper Crafty - Embossing
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Sweethearts and Roses
Stampotique Designers Challenge - It's All Love and Hearts - SDC 182
Papertake Weekly  - Hearts and Flowers
Tuesday Throwdown - Love Is In The Air
In The Pink Challenge  - Love Is In The Air
Crafty Cardmakers - Love, Love, Love