GDP022 Crazy About You

This was the Crazy Valentine’s Day card I eventually gave my hubby and it describes our relationship perfectly, colourful, crazy and very busy! This card is also my submission for Global Design Project #022 sketch challenge this week. I used the Global Design Project sketch as my inspiration, flipping it on it’s side (there is a long story to why it ended up on it’s side, but suffice to say, best laid plans never go as planned).  Here is the original sketch ….

Just lately,  I have been playing around with water colouring … abstract backgrounds, rather than actually colouring an image.  I had this one which I really, really wanted to use with my Featured Stamp Set and Bundle for February (Balloon Celebration), however after many attempts at adding balloons to this super bright background and not being happy with any of them  … and knowing I wanted to create a Valentine’s Day card that Duncan (my hubby) hadn’t actually seen already, I decided to add a heart!

Now those of you who follow the blog, will know that my challenge for Valentine’s Day was to not use hearts and to not use pink! So for me to finally give Duncan a card featuring both could be construed as a failure … but if I have to stray from my challenge, I love having done it with this card!!

My watercolour background started with a yellow wash all over (Daffodil Delight) on Watercolour Paper. I then added Rich Razzleberry, Island Indigo and Cajun Craze.  The green tones you can see are where Island Indigo overlaps the Daffodil Delight. The trick to not creating a muddy brown is to dry the piece with a heat tool before applying the next colour. I used an Aqua Painter to watercolour and also to “splat” some drops of colour.

The background was colourful, but a little flat. So I stamped the fine splatter from Gorgeous Grunge (Clear Mount and Wood Mount) with Versamark ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  Instant pick me up!

The background was reminiscent of a galaxy type image, so the choice of DSP from the Going Places DSP Stack (which includes many constellation patterns) for the background strip was easy, and the Rich Razzleberry Cotton Ribbon ties all the colours together.

I already knew I wanted to use the words “Crazy About You” (from the Crazy About You stamp set) on the front and embossing in white made the words stand out just enough, but not take away from the colourful background.

I tried balloons in many different colours, but they just didn’t work. Eventually I die cut a heart (this one is from the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits, however the Sweetheart punch would also work) out of watercolour card and water coloured with Rich Razzleberry, Cajun Craze and Daffodil Delight inks.  To add some ooomph, I coloured all over with the Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush. Wow!  I added a single small heart over the top and that was really all this card needed!

I kept the inside panel simple, more DSP from the Going Global stack and a quick watercolour swish of Daffodil Delight and Cajun Craze, before white embossing more words from the Crazy About You stamp set (remember to let the watercoloured swish dry thoroughly before embossing the greeting). The addition of a small “Stella’d” heart finishes this card off beautifully.

I chose not to show you the full inside panel because you really don’t want to see my soppy handwritten words!  Some things just need to remain private! 🙂

I love this card … it is the only one I made and I love that it gets to stay in the house … no sooner than I had given it to Duncan, I whipped it out of his hands and re-claimed it to take these pics.

The Global Design Project sketch challenge is filled with different and wonderful inspiration. Grab and cuppa and settle down to check out all the submissions this week.

xx
Cheryll