Color Dare #180 and H2H Share The Love

Dear Mom, Thank you so much for the wonderful gift of the Misti that you gave me ... idk... a year ago?  I am so sorry that since that time, when you ask me if I've yet discovered the wonders of the Misti that my answer has been no.  A resounding no.  Painful to your ears and heart, I just didn't think of it.  Then, as I was making this card and getting frustrated because my cat was just not turning out dark enough, a lightbulb went on and I could hear this most wonderful Misti calling my name from inside the dark cupboard it's been forced to spend its life in since it came to my house... Harry Potter-ish... very sad.  So I thought... what the hey!  I'll give it a try... and I'm here to tell you... You were right.  And I was wrong.  (And yes, you too, Marilyn Hepp.. You told me so).  Love, your favorite daughter.

 

 

Ok... now that that's out of the way, I'm playing along with Color My Heart Color Dare again this week who just happens to be mashing up with Heart2Heart Challenges so again I thought... What the Hey!  I know.. I told you no more Valentines... but this isn't necessarily a Valentine... as lovey as it is.
 

I used mom's new awesome Storybook die from Pretty Pink Posh and I didn't set out to make it an actual window.  In fact I was going to make a quick and simple card... but then I saw a cool shaker done by Valerie Klein Ward using one of these dies and I knew I wanted to make it a shaker.  You can see her card here if you'd like and you should cause it's really cute!

 

 

So, I cut the "window" out of the red cardstock and then I cut one out of some foam because I knew it would be hard to cut my sticky foam tape skinny enough for those lines between the panes.  It stretches it out a bit when you put it through the Big Shot, but it worked out pretty well.  I cut my base piece in white and did my stamping and then blended some of all the reds in the color challenge to create a sunset-ish kind of look.. the white was just too stark.  Still using some of the little hearts from my Heart of Heart Die from Craftin Desert Divas and also mixed in some of their pretty Valentine sequin mix (minus the pinks) and a few other black and white sequin mixes in my stash.  The stamp set I used is Amour from CTMH (borrowed that from mom too)... seems to be the theme here...

 

 

Embossed the Je T'adore sentiment white on black cardstock and then added one of my new favorite embellishments... Tim Holtz Distress Glitter using some translucent embossing paste... a few flowers and then it struck me.  I had seen a post from a girl who was upset and showed how she made such a pretty embossed image of the word Café and accidentally put it in backwards so the word was embossed backwards.  When I saw it, I thought... I feel like I'm sitting at a window in a café and looking out... so I decided my window needed a litte Café sign in it and added the coffee cup (adorable wood veneers I got from Latina Crafter) and macaroons (from a really cute set "Cup of Cheer" from Poppy Stamps)... and of course a little doily.

 

 

Guess I better wrap it up and get to work, but be sure to check out these two challenges and take a look at some of the great artwork!