Inlaid Die Cutting and Tone on Tone Stenciling

Hello Everyone,
Right off the top, I just have to say that I am so grateful that Virginia Lu started her Virginia's View challenges - I love them and am amazed at the fact that Virginia herself comments on every single linked project! I also want to give a shout out to Ardyth Percy-Robb whose beautiful cards inspire me all the time. Her card for the Card Fusion challenge inspired me to make this one.

I mentioned in a previous post that the end of the school year was a little crazy. One of the reasons is that one of my big sisters is in hospital at the moment and really fighting hard for her life - she was visiting her son in Toronto, when she ended up in hospital with a blinding headache. While she was at the hospital they discovered not only that she had a brain aneurysm, but it had ruptured. She was whisked into have brain surgery and thank God, she survived that. It has now been almost three weeks - which is the time when most complications occur - and we have had many ups and downs. I am happy to report that she has been stable for about a week now and is almost ready to have her ventilator removed (so she can breathe on her own), she has regained movement on both sides of her body, and she is aware to be able to write little notes. It has been difficult not to be able to see her all the time (we live in the Ottawa area about 4 hours away), so part of what gives me solace is making her cards. This one is for her, because she needs all the "hugs" she can get.

I was thrilled to see the colours and the sketch for the Fusion Challenge - Nuala, my sister, loves bright bold colours - so this is right up her alley. I also wanted to try the tone on tone stencil technique that Jennifer McGuire demo'd over on Virginia's View. So, I combined everything. I masked and  sponged the thin black stripes with Black Soot Distress ink. Then masked off the top trinagle and sponged the bottom with Broken China; then, I overlayed the stencil and sponged again with Broken China. I love the soft look this creates. Finally, the die-cutting. I used the Memory Box Tilth Flower and die cut it from the main panel. Then I die-cut one in black and one in white. I inlaid the black flower to the main panel. I sponged the white die-cut with Ripe Tomato and Fired Brick Distress inks, then inlaid the centres of the petals into the main panel. The last addition was the Hugs die (SSS) - it has four layers of white topped with black. Last, since I got a new Wink of Stella clear brush tip marker - I had to add it to the sentiment and to the center of the flower. I am sure that my sister will love this card.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I love to hear your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment.

Happy Stamping,
Meg