A Summer Engagement

This is a lovely card that I made for a friend's engagement. I really enjoyed making this card, I love the fresh colours and all the techniques used!  I have used stamps and an embossing folder by Sheena Douglass, a stencil by Claritystamps and some dies.  The base card is plain white, on to which I stamped decorative leaves in Mowed Lawn and Scattered Straw Distress Inks (DI's).  Scattered Straw DI is then blended around the edges of the card. The background panel is a piece of white card.  Using the leafy swirl stencil I applied the same DI's through the stencil with a brush, moving the stencil slightly for each colour.  The panel is then embossed in a folder (leaf pattern) through a machine, and Mowed Lawn ink is blended around the edges of the panel.  I then matted the panel on to black card and layered it on to the base card.  The butterfly stamp sets from Sheena have two butterflies which are designed to be stamped one on top of the other, or as separate images.  For my design I decided to stamp and paint one image on to card, and the other as an acetate overlay to create movement.  Using black ink I stamped one image on to some white card, then coloured it with H2O paints to co-ordinate with the inks I used.   I then stamped the other butterfly image with clear ink on to acetate, and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder.  I cut both images out, and shaped them by curling the wings slightly.  The acetate butterfly is then layered on to the painted card butterfly and attached using  dimensional glue along the body.  The next stage is the sentiment panel.  I chose these words as I felt that they are very appropriate for my friends' situation.  On a piece of white card I stencilled leaves as before using the same coloured inks.  Then I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on to the card, using clear ink and two-tone green embossing powder.  I cut the panel with a deckle edged die and embossed it, then  blended ink around the edges through the die.  Using a slightly bigger die I cut another panel out of black card and matted the sentiment panel on to it.  I then took another piece of white card and sponged the H2O paints all over it to give a mottled background.  Using a Tattered Lace die of a leafy corner I cut two corners out of the coloured card.  Finally I put all the elements of the card together, using dimensional glue for the sentiment panel and butterfly and strong glue for the leafy corners.