Inspired by Joan

Joan...she who sparked my recent spending spree and octopus obsession...sent me a fabulous card that touched my heart.

No pun intended.

Card by Joan

Several things about this card really stand out as smart design choices. First, the vertical wood-grain borders top and bottom both soften the bold graphic of the heart and echo the horizontal lines of the smaller heart in the large solid heart. That's brilliant! Then, there's the white enamel dot in the center of the smaller heart...it brightens the brown on red and draws the eye so pleasingly.

Basically, Joan is a genius, and so kind to have sent me a beautiful paper hug!

My card today, inspired by Joan's, uses Busy As A, a new bee-themed set from Hero Arts. I copied the borders top and bottom and used a tiny bling on my smaller focal point.

The small honeycomb stamp was repeated across the top and bottom of my one-layer card, and the honey pot was colored with Copics. This was my second attempt, and I really like how it turned out. The warm honey browns and teal blues add pop...that's what happens when you use complementary color schemes, or colors that are opposite on the color wheel.

The pot is popped up with dimensionals.

Image uses Memento rich cocoa ink for the outline
and Copic markers for the coloring. Lovely!

My little bling doesn't carry nearly as much design importance as Joan's enamel dot, but it's cute, isn't it!

Now, this was my second attempt at coloring. For the first attempt, I used Archival potting soil, and it didn't hold up to the Copic coloring. Look how the string disappears into the Copic ink, long before I'd finished layering the inks:

Image uses Archival potting soil for the outline, but
the Copics started dissolving the ink before enough color
could be put down.

So, there are two lessons from this post:

1. Joan is a genius and it would behoove you to click over to her blog Dear Paperlicious for some inspiration. (Plus, she's really funny!)

2. Use Memento ink when coloring with Copics.

Not bad for a Monday.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan


Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Busy As A
ink: Memento Luxe potter's clay, Memento rich cocoa
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: Copics, rhinestone, dimensionals