Chalkboard Love

Claire posed a challenge on her blog to try the chalkboard technique with some of her Waltzingmouse Stamps.  I had the My Heart set out for another project last week, so while I had the set out, I put together a chalkboard style panel featuring a few images from the set with the the plan to assemble a card over the weekend.

Here's what I came up with.  Instead of using black cardstock as my base, I used a dark gray, which is more like the chalkboards I had in my classrooms when I taught kindergarten.  I used a pair of the woodgrain heart images along with the "love you" sentiment on the panel. 

Once the images were embossed and offset stamped with a white pigment ink, I added lines around the panel's edge with a white gel pen (which was a little sticky due to the current long stretch of cold weather, so some of my lines are a little wonky . . .) and brushed on a little pigment ink "chalk dust."  The dusty patches are a little less obvious IRL.  I guess my lighting/photo editing really brought them out in the photo.

I edged the top and bottom of the panel with pieces of a white paper doily.  It's set on a red panel with a text patterned strip topped with red dotted washi tape layered across the middle.  I machine stitched around the panel's edges before adhering it to a gray card base.  The little red satin bow was a last minute addition.  I felt like the card needed a little something more and I played around with a few options before settling on the bow.

Materials Used:
My Heart stamp set (Waltzingmouse Stamps); Fresh Snow ink (Papertrey Ink); Real Red cardstock (Stampin' Up!); Steel Grey cardstock (My Favorite Things); Uncommon 6x6 paper pad (Authentique); white embossing powder (Michaels); white pen (Ranger); decorative tape (Freckled Fawn); paper doily; Bow Easy; red satin ribbon; sewing machine