Purple Violas

I really enjoy playing along in the Viva la Verve sketch challenge every month. The sketches are always amazing--sometimes easy, sometimes, well...a challenge. ;) This month, in Week 2, there was a very challenging sketch for me.

Try as I might, I had a dickens of a time trying to come up with something for those big ovals in the background. I had a die cut that I had already been working on, that I really wanted to use, but it just wasn't big enough.

It was a navy die cut that I embossed with a paisley embossing folder, then swiped with bright purple and copper-colored paint daubers. I love the end result. After cutting it in half lengthwise, I edged the pieces with my gold pen. It was so pretty, I just had to find a way to use it. :-)

To make this card, I edged the purple dp with a gold calligraphy pen, scored an interior border, then colored the score lines with gold, also. For the "ovals" I embossed a lavender die cut with polka dots, then swiped a white paint dauber across the dots and along the edges, finally cutting it in half lengthwise, and layered the navy painted die cut on top of it. I lined them up with the score line rather than the edge of the card. Those pretty flowers are violas from a Flourishes stamp set. They are colored with Copics and a Prismacolor pencil, and the centers are yellow Stickles. I was able to lift the violas with the help of a new glue I got a couple of weeks ago called CollAll 3D glue. Great stuff. You just want to try to keep it off your hands--it is super sticky. I had to use Goo Gone to get it off, and it wasn't easy! Finally, I added a sheer bow, buttons, some memory thread, and a few pearls. The little spot beside the violas was the perfect place for an itty bitty sentiment, so I stamped the cute "hello" stamp from Verve's Tag Time set. An olive green base was my final layer.

Here's a better pic of the violas. Can you see the light streaks of yellow coming from the center of the flowers? After coloring them, I used a few streaks from a yellow Prismacolor pencil to lighten up the navy centers. After fussy cutting the image, I "aged" the image by sponging Milled Lavender Distress Ink over the white edges.

I almost left the inside blank, but it felt a little naked, so I edged a rectangle of white with my gold calligraphy pen, stamped the sentiment in the corner, and added a pretty punched border at the top. Even with all that it looked a little blah until I put bright yellow Stickles on the border. Then, it was done! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Viva la Verve Sketch Challenge June 2013, Week 2
Verve Diva Dare June 2013: Puddles of Colour

~Hugs,

Supplies:

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