Strokes of Luck

The buzz on the alcohol based markers is that they don't leave "lines" or stroke marks. So, I decided to play up that "feature" of the water based markers and created this vibrant orange background with my good old Stampin Up markers (the ones that I thought were expensive until I saw the prices of the Copic, etc!!). I had sooo much fun making this card that the result almost doesn't matter. How I made this card: I stamped each petal of the Loves Me small Technique Tuesday set in Memories Black ink onto shimmery white paper. Since the petals are clear, placement was a snap. I let it set for a good hour or so so the black wouldn't smudge. Oh, I did lots and lots to these petals! Practically wore out the paper trying to get what I wanted -- watercolor crayons, markers, blender pen. When all was said and done, I ended up using SU shades of blue -- ballet, bashful and brilliant crayons and markers. Made a bit of a mess, but salvageable. It looks better IRL than in this pic, honest! The background started out as just some Apricot watercolor crayon around each flower. Then summer sun marker and then, bam, I just went for it with an only orange marker. Too much fun. I really liked the stroked pattern -- reminds me of sun rays. I cut out part of the background around some of the petals just to make it more interesting. I fooled around with the center of the flower, trying out all manner of embellishments. My son told me to ixnay the ribbon and button I had spent a half hour working on, and I decided he was right and used a huge brad from Making Memories. I stamped Best of Luck from the Papertreyink line on a punched out piece of blue cardstock, but really, the flower just needed to BE center stage, so I dumped that and went with the Best of Luck directly on the paper, hoping it would be straight and clear. Success. Whew. After spending a lot of time on a card, you just hate to ruin it in the last seconds, KWIM? Isn't stamping fun????