Penny Black: Imagine - girl's birthday card

Hi blogging friends

Just wanted to say thank you for all your sweet comments and support following my last post re my sick family member - I really appreciate them   It's going to be a long road to recovery - most of this year - but we are just taking a day at a time and getting through it with whatever challenges arise and not thinking too much about tomorrow.

I thought I would share a card that I finally finished today.  It just seemed to take ages to figure out if I needed a sentiment and if so, where should I put it?   Sometimes it takes me longer to "finish" off a card than all the rest of it (hope that makes sense!) especially when my mind has been filled with a truckload of medical information.  Gosh, it feels so good to post a card and think about something non-medical :-))  ....and here it is:  

I coloured the CUTE little Penny Black teddy with watercolour pencils and added lots of glitter to the balloon and the wings on the bees.  I paper-pieced teddy's bow tie then punched some tiny hearts with my Arrows border punch (they are the leftover punchies which look like tiny hearts) and added them around the balloon and glittered them too.  I chalked around the image with Kaisercolour blue chalk.    Can't you just imagine teddy saying "Wheeeeeee!!" as he flies across the sky?  Doesn't he look just so happy?!  

Here is a little close-up of teddy - the glitter on the balloon doesn't look as gaudy in real life - just the camera angle captured it that way:

And here is an extra-close-up pic so you can see the paper-pieced tie. I should do more paper-piecing - I really love the effect:

I also really love the designer paper - such gorgeous, cheerful colours.  It was so hard to cut into it LOL!!  I struggled to find a matching ribbon in my stash so dyed some white seam binding with Jo Sonja Textile Medium mixed 50/50 with Aqua + Colony Blue Jo Sonja acrylic paint to get a light teal kind of colour.  The Textile Medium changes the paint into fabric paint - very handy!!  I attached the ribbon in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.  I sewed the button onto the bow then glued the bow on with fabric glue.  

The tag was diecut with my Cuttlebug and one of the Tiny Tags dies.  I added the same tiny little hearts as around the balloon and glittered them too.  Lastly, I added the lovely pearly brads to the top RHS which were some freebies from Anna's Craft Cupboard that were included with a recent order.

Challenges:

I am entering my card into the following Challenges:

Splitcoaststampers - Free for All Friday - F4A105 - Cards with Character - which is to add a character to your creation such as people, animals etc.

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Simon says: "Use 3 different papers".  My first 2 papers are obvious; the 3rd is the paper-pieced bow tie on teddy - and are all from the same MME paper pad.

Allsorts Challenge Blog - Week 143 - It's your choice

Thanks for stopping by - I really appreciate it!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black 'Imagine' 3694K wood-mount, sentiment by Wendy Irving Expressions clear set J6412.01

Ink:  Versafine Onyx black

Designer paper:  My Mind's Eye - Lime Twist - Life of the Party 6" x 6" pad

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Tiny Tags die, Bow Easy, white seam binding, Jo Sonja Textile Medium and acrylic paints, Bow Easy, button and sewing thread, fabric glue, Lyra Aquarelle watercolour pencils, paintbrush, Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, 140lb hot pressed watercolour paper, Kaisercolour blue chalk, cardstock:  light teal

Punches:  EK Success Arrows border