Hope!

As per yesterday's post, I participated in this week's CPS challenge, which is being sponsored by Bombshell Stamps.  This is the kind of stamp company I would love to work with, because I can relate to their themes - vintage pinups, sugar skulls, and Sacred Hearts.  They also have a blog that features a monthly sketch challenge, so I decided to participate in it.

I chose to feature a Sacred Heart art piece that I made on the Layers App on my iPhone a couple of years ago.  It's a cool art app which allows you to use various tools to draw and blend sketches/pictures through various layers.  The latter truly gives depth to your artwork, just like a collage.  I printed the piece on photographic paper, cropped it into an oval shape with a Fiskars ShapeCutter system, scraped the edges, and tinted them with brown Delta pigment pad.  Then, I sanded the image down, highlighted some areas with Marvy markers, and scrapped "Hope! on the left corner with a Speedball cutter tip.  Finally, I added a pink rhinestone to the center of the cross.

Next, I worked on the layout, which I built on a pink Martha Stewart note card.  I used two sheets from a K&Company Classic K pad, because they had a vintage look that went well with the graffiti look that I was going for.  I used a Martha Stewart punch to edge of the bottom panel, and then edged all the pieces with the brown pigment pad.  I attached the panels as per the sketch, made an incision on the spine between the panels to loop a piece of jute twine, and tied it with a square knot.  I attached my artwork to the top panel with foam pads.  I chose to use an awl to pierce the 3 dots on the upper and bottom edges.  I felt that the latter enhanced the feeling of graffiti.

This was a fun card to make!  I hope the Bombshell's team likes and approves of it.  I know I didn't use one of their stamps, but my design could inspire someone to use their stamps to achieve a similar look.  I cordially invite you to join my followers and/or leave a comment.  Blessings!