Share Handmade Kindness

I'm participating in a month long event that was developed by and started yesterday over at the Jennifer McGuire, Ink blog.  I've mentioned before that she is my absolute favorite paper crafter to follow.  There are several bloggers that I like and follow, but Jennifer's style more closely matches my own and I also relate to her because, like me, she doesn't come from an art background.  Also like me, she started when she was making scrapbooks for her family.

The challenge is to make something (anything) by hand with love.  It could be dinner, dessert, cookies, taking photos, creating a scrapbook page or a card or just a handwritten note.  People just love to get "real" mail and for some of us, the joy is in creating those things.  I know I groan every time I see how much junk is in the mailbox and what a delight it is anytime I get something besides a bill or junk.

I have someone special that I want to reach out to for this challenge.  This person makes an impact on so many lives but she has no idea just how much!  I'm sending a card that I made to say thanks and to try and tell her how much she has impacted my life in a positive way.

I made this card with the same technique that I used to make the Audrey Blue Ornament Card. Using a piece of chipboard that came in a package of paper, I cut the heart out for my mask this time.  First I used a Mini Ink Blending Tool and Simon Says Stamp Thistle Ink to color in the heart.  I stamped the flourish in the heart and heat embossed it using WOW! White Pearl Embossing Powder. Since my ink was already down, it gave the flourish a tone on tone look.  I applied Versamark using a Mini Sponge Dauber all over the heart, then I used Interference Red Perfect Pearls over that.  A very light misting of water helps to set the Perfect Pearls. As you blend in the Perfect Pearls, the color looks different depending on what light is shining on it.  The Interference Red gets a beautiful kind of rose colored shimmer in the right light and I like that it changes as the light does. I wanted to make the heart seem like an ornament, so I used the ornament topper die from another set.  I wasn't sure it would work, but it was perfect.  I ran the rose colored ribbon through that ornament topper to make it look like it was hanging.

I used the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles in the largest size to cut the background panel and then the next largest for the card front panel and tucked the ribbon behind the background panel with a couple of glue dots.  Then I cut and added my sentiment.  This is my favorite "thanks" die from Mama Elephant cut from the same Bazzill Marshmallow as the front panel for a perfect match.  I cut all the little hearts in some Creative Memories Thistle colored paper that I had also added the Interference Red Perfect Pearls to using the Simon Says Stamp Holiday Shapes Hearts and Stars die and the Simon Says Stamp Large Holiday Shapes Hearts and Stars die.  Those two die sets give you 8 different sizes of each shape and are something I use frequently.   Once I had everything assembled I added the hearts to my card front using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  For my final touch I gave all of the hearts a coat of Ranger Glossy Accents to give the hearts a little dimension, then set it aside to dry for a couple of hours.

I hope some of you who are reading this will go check out Jennifer McGuire Ink (link on the right hand side) and join in the Share Handmade Kindness Challenge.