House of Cards April Challenge

We have a fabulous new challenge for you at House of Cards this month!  You can be inspired by the colors or include script on your card or be like me and use both!

I wanted to try Distress Ink lifting that I had seen in a Jennifer McGuire video.  Jennifer used a bright blue but I went the other direction and used Antique Linen.  I rubbed the panel liberally then dried it.  I then stamped my Penny Black background using Versamark and embossed it in clear.  I didn't worry that the embossing wasn't perfectly smooth since I wanted a vintage look anyway.  Next, I spread water over the non-embossed sections.  The ink quickly moved out of the way.  I colored the foliage using more Distress Inks.  A very soft look.  I set that aside to dry.

While I was waiting, I colored a piece of cardstock with Worn Lipstick and die cut the stem from it.  Wow, it was rave bright so I spread water all over it.  I had to handle it very carefully because it wanted to fall apart in my hands.  After I dried it with my heat gun, it was fine.  For the leafy diecut, I colored the cardstock with Peeled Painted, applied water, and dried it before diecutting it.  Much easier to work with that way.  I wet embossed the vellum panel with gold.  Dreamy.  Finally I colored seam binding with the Antique Linen (direct pad to ribbon).  That dried in like 5 seconds with the heat gun.

Next I ironed off the embossing from the main panel which also dried it fully.  It has a light suede texture now, just like the linen wallpaper look I was going for--tee hee!  After that assembly was a snap, especially with the Bow Easy to make my pretty bow.

I'm looking forward to seeing how you interpret the challenge.  Come join us!

The Details:  Penny Black Blissful, Inkadinkado Script, Memory Box Eva Stem and Botanical Stem dies, Simon Says stitched rectangle die, Versamark, Ranger gold embossing powder, Distress Ink Worn Lipstick, Peeled Paint, Antique Linen, Mowed Lawn, Fired Brick, Hampton Art clear embossing powder, Hug Snug seam binding, Core'dinations 65lb vellum, Bow Easy