Absolute Bliss & sponging

Happy Saturday, everyone. This is a big Harley anniversary weekend in the Milwaukee area and for a number of days now, everywhere you go, you see bikers. Not the normal two or three here and there, but lots and lots of bikers. And something that most people probably wouldn't even notice, but when I have the windows open, I can hear the constant rumble from the highways in the distance (even in the middle of the night). Now I can't say that I've ever ridden a Harley, but my husband used to have a Honda and there is really nothing like riding on a motorcycle. Unfortunately, Wisconsin weather tends to allow a rather limited amount of time in which to comfortably ride one, which is why my DH finally sold his a number of years ago.

The splitcoast inspiration challenge for this week was posted early enough last night that I was able to finish my card before I went to bed, but by the time I uploaded it on SCS, I was getting too tired to try and post it here as well. I chose this room as my inspiration -- big surprise, no? It's blue and there's a butterfly! I can't miss with that!

I picked three different stamp sets to combine for my image and literally stamped each image right on top of the previous. All were stamped in versamark on white card stock and then clear embossed. I forgot to use my embossing buddy, so I got a few extra speckles, but that's OK. There was a time that I was a perfectionist, but have learned that life is just too short to allow some minor defect to interfere. Then I did some serious sponging.

Let me tell you how I sponge. When I sponge, I like to use the round yellow sponges cut into quarters. I also have some sponges that in another life were packing cushion for computers, etc. This cushion was about 2" thick and I simply cut it into cubes with a pair of scissors. Then I used the scissors to snip, snip, snip away at the corners until I had a relatively rounded shape. The advantage of a round shape is that you don't end up with ink lines from the square edges. I squeeze or smoosh the sponge in my hand until I only have a small area (maybe an inch or less) that will come in contact with my ink pad. I tap it on my ink pad, then press it onto my paper in a circular motion in one spot and then gradually move around on the paper. I repeat this process until I like the amount of coverage I have. Remember, this card stock started out as white, so you can see I sponged a lot of ink onto it. I started with turquoise, then added ballet blue, which simply darkened the turquoise in areas, then added brilliant blue. You can cover as little or as much as you want, but to get the smooth transition from one color to the next, you have to move the sponge around and overlap the colors. It's also a good idea to start with your lightest color and end with the darkest.

Because the embossing resists the ink, that area will remain white. Once I was satisfied with the amount of color added, I used a white gel pen and added dots around some of the curves and the butterfly and in the corners.

I wanted the sentiment to say 'pure bliss', but don't have a stamp that says that. I had forgotten about this one that says 'absolute bliss' -- close enough. I stamped it in black stazon. Then I added a few rhinestones and layered this piece on brilliant blue.

For the card base, I knew I was going to use turquoise, but I also wanted to incorporate some curves, since that was part of the inspiration piece. So I took a large cardboard circle and simply traced some curves and cut them out and glued them to the turquoise base. I attached the front panel with foam tape and it was done. This is a color combination that to me is absolute bliss!

supplies:
stamps: baroque motifs, garden silhouettes, kind thoughts, so many sayings
ink: versamark, tempting turquoise, ballet blue, brilliant blue, jet black stazon
paper: tempting turquoise, brilliant blue, whisper white
other: clear ep, heat gun, rhinestones, white gel pen, sponge, foam tape

I'm so glad you took the time to visit today. Have a wonderful weekend.