Inspiration: Mojo Monday #508 + Simon Says Stamps Monday (Love is in the Air) + Paper Craft Crew #324 (Die-cut + Valentine + Metallic) + ColourQ #213
After some really busy weeks, I finally have a bit of free time to play with my SAB and Occasions catalogue supplies. One of the sets that I immediately loved but fought getting is Hey Love. I wasn't sure if i'd used it enough and it's not translated to French, but boy, is it ever cute! If course, I immediately gravitated towards it when it came time to select a stamp to play with. The Mojo Monday sketch had a big heart in the center, which was perfect for this love set and also for the Foil Sheets offered as a free gift during Sale-A-Bration. The Lovely Lipstick foil sheets are your regular metallic sheets, but the Grapefruit Grove foil sheets have a funky holographic finish on them. It's different from our usual foil sheets and really fun.
The foil sheets were my starting point for the design, so I went looking at past ColourQ combos with some peach shades in it and found what I was looking for in combo #213. As I was looking for current colours to mimick the original combo, I initially felt that the green, purple and orange might be a little Halloween-ish, but the second I switched Gorgeous Grape for Highland Heather, it immediately became a better fit for a love card. I also liked selecting something that was a departure from pinks and reds, so I decided to give it a go. (On a side note, it's funny how often I've pulled out Highland Heather since it came out. I'm not usually big on purple, but this shade goes with everything, it seems. And even though I find Gorgeous Grape just as pretty, I don't think I've used it yet. Even on a couple of occasions where I've played with online colour combos calling for Gorgeous Grape, I discovered after being done with my project that I had grabbed Highland Heather instead by mistake!!)
Since Julee included dimension with her sketch, the card came together really fasr. The background was too bare, so I looked at embossing folders and pulled out Garden Treillis. it looked pretty but on a whim, I decided to pull out my Copper glimmer paint to dab some on the raised surface and suddenly, the card came to life! The copper paint matches the Grapefruit Grove cardstock SO nicely! (By the way, I'm really pleased that Stampin' Up! is keeping the shimmer paint past the Holidays catalogue, but also baffled as to why they didn't keep the Copper one. It's just so pretty and copper/rose gold is still on trend. I'm mourning a little bit...)
I used the Well Written Franelits for my sentiment, and selected the word Love. I didn't buy the matching stamp set - the French sentiments just weren't appealing to me and I thought I wouldn't use it enough, so I went looking for something else to create a full sentiment with. I pulled out the now-discontinued alphabet roller stamp and initially stamped "with all my (love)." I couldn't fit it to my liking as it was bigger than I had anticipated. So I cut the words apart. Didn't like the look either. Kept only "My love" but there was a little smudge on the edge of the word that was really bothering me. I ended up sleeping on it and making a decision only the next day. I restamped "my," but it apart and added it to the heart.
Speaking of hearts, that little heart that the croc is holding is from the Well Written Framelits set. It was so cute and tiny, I decided I could slip it in the croc's paws. Initially, I tried to glue it over the image, but no matter where I positioned it, it didn't look right. So I bit the bullet, got my craft knife out and made tiny cuts around the tiny paws to slip the heart underneath the image. Which made it look much better. The crocodile was colored with Stampin' Blends markers. (Word of caution if you own some: make sure you put the caps back on with care. I've had two nibs dry on me so far because the caps were not replaced carefully. That's disappointing, but now I know I need to be more careful. At least, I can reorder the individual markers to replace the ones that dried.)
Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Hey Love, Alphabet Rolling Stamp
Cardstock: Grapefruit Grove, Highland Heather, Whisper White, Basic Grey
Designer Series Paper Stack: 2017-2019 In Color, Subtles
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, Basic Grey
Accessories: Garden Treillis Embossing Folder, Copper Glimmer Paint, Grapefruit Grove Foil Sheets (SAB),
Stampin' Blends Markers, Stampin' Dimensionals, Les Bons Mots Framelits, 2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes,
Grapefruit Grove 1/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, White Medium Envelope, Triple Banner Punch, Layering Square Framelits