Lindsay Dickason Designs: Distress It: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Entry #2 plus a BONUS card!

Here's another card I made for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Distress It. I used the Mandy's Flowers Stamp Set from Simon Says Stamp and the coordinating dies!

I wanted to create a "shabby chic" type of card, so I chose soft pinks for the dominant color. First, I laid down a light wash of watercolor using Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections: Pastel Dreams watercolor on Blick watercolor paper. I used a #12 round brush from the Silver Brush Company and lots of water to achieve a very soft background.

After it dried, I stamped the circular floral image in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I used Memento because it is Copic-safe, and I used Copic markers to color in the flowers and leaves. Because I was coloring over watercolor, the colors came out very muted - which was exactly the look I was going for. I cut out the image with the coordinating die and mounted it on a piece of white fun foam, also cut with the same die. I really like using Tim Holtz Distress College matte medium as the adhesive when working with fun foam. It is holds together the cardstock and fun foam quite nicely. Plus, it dries matte and clear!

I die cut the background piece with the largest rectangle of the My Favorite Things A2 Stitched Rectangle Stax Die-Namics. Looking back now, I think it would have looked really cute if I had actually stitched on the card itself. I have my sewing machine stored in the closet, but I'm gonna whip it out and start using it more on cards!

I stamped the "Thank you" sentiment from the stamp set and the "For Always Being There" from the Birch Press Designs Just Because stamp set. This is seriously a great go-to stamp set for just about any kind of card! I used Basic Black Stampin' Up!' ink and heat embossed Hero Arts clear embossing powder over top. This just gives the sentiment a little pop! I also added a little bit of white paint splatters to the background with a white paint pen and used Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink with a blending tool to give the card an "aged" effect. Lastly, I adhered it to a Neenah Desert Storm card stock card base.