distressing hugs

Happy Saturday! And, no - hugs shouldn't be distressing! We like happy hugs. Today's inspiration challenge on splitcoast again had lots of fun images to choose from, but I decided to go with one that was given in the post - I picked the image on the right and decided to use the colors, rust and turquoise, on my card.

When I stamp, I might (and I use that word loosely) have a plan, but more often than not, my card evolves as I go. This was definitely one of those evolving cards.

I started with the floral image, added an extra flowers, plus layered the flowers. The image is colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. (If you're wondering where the rust is, it's in the flower centers.) I punched one side with my spiral punch and then added a lot of distressing, sponging and doodling.

When I picked up a black folded card, the right hand front had already been trimmed off, so I was thinking of adding a scalloped turquoise layer behind the edge, but after doing all the distressing on the card, I decided that would look too formal and wanted something more shabby. I thought the bits of ribbon worked quite well.

The music is really old and brittle. I had to be gentle with it because it's so fragile.

I crocheted the flower, added some Martha Stewart punches and a button.

The sentiment is from a word set that I purchased years ago locally and I have no idea who makes it.

What's in it?
stamps: flower fancy, itty bitty backgrounds (SU), sentiment (?)
ink: jet black stazon, chocolate chip
paper: basic black, tempting turquoise, very vanilla, certainly celery, old music
other: sponge, prismacolor pencils, gamsol, crochet flower, black crochet cotton, button, various ribbon, spiral punch, leaf & fern punches (Martha Stewart), foam tape