I have 2 Penny Black designers to thank for inspiring this card: Elizabeth & Alexandra. I printed off Elizabeth's tutorial the first day I read it as I was drawn to the unique design that wasn't complicated to do--just cut & score following her instructions. The second designer is Alexandra who makes such wonderful backgrounds using Gelatos--the first example I saw HERE, but she has many others as well. I've had some Gelatos for several months & never used them. Finally last night I had no mojo to make anything, so just started playing with the Gelatos. I used 2 shades of pink (being inspired by the current PDCC colors) directly onto Penny Black pointille & spritzed with Ink Potion #9 & stamped onto watercolor paper. I repeated the process, turning the stamp opposite directions, until the piece was covered. Collage is not my strength, but I did feel comfortable white embossing the Penny Black simple scroll in 2 of the corners. At that point I wanted to add a bit of the green, so used my waterbrush with Distress Ink mowed lawn & let some drops fall onto the panel. I blew on them & blotted them. At first I thought I'd ruined it, but when it dried I decided I actually liked it. Now I had to figure out how to make a card with my background, which I really didn't want to cover up.
I saw Elizabeth's instructions sitting on my table--perfect for this! I cut a 12x12 sheet of white cardstock following the tutorial & just glued my panel to the front. It was so nice to know exactly where & how big to make the cut--I'd have taken forever to figure that out--LOL! The butterfly, Penny Black wings, already looks watercolored to me so was a good fit for the style I wanted to create. I used the darker pink Gelato directly on the rubber, spritzed, stamped on white cardstock & fussy cut. I added the lighter pink on top, but you can't really tell. I attached it with foam tape only in the center & bent the wings up a bit & added tiny green pearls. The colored flap is done with the same Gelatos, watercolored, & the sentiment from Penny Black illuminations is stamped in the mowed lawn ink. Sometimes mojo comes just by starting to create even when you don't have the end result in mind. I'm entering my card into the PDCC and the Wonder of Watercolor in the Moxie Fab World. Thanks for coming along on my journey. I love to hear what you think.