What a mess!

These are the two cards I used for inspiration today. Again they have the same basic layout. I started with the card to the left and created quite a mess.

 Here's the mess... I wanted to use Glimmer paper as a mat but also wanted it to be in the Rich Razzleberry color. So I thought I would use my Razzleberry marker... didn't get much color with that... so tried direct to ink pad... a little better but it didn't want to dry and I wound up with smudges of Razzleberry everywhere! On top of that I was trying to mock the gold dots on the background of the commercial card; so I used my dotted embossing folder and inked it with silver Encore pad before running it through the Big Shot. I wound up with silver smudges there, too. Realize now I should have used a Sharpie to color the glimmer paper. And could have embossed the dots and then used silver pen to fill them in. 

Then I remembered I had Blushing Bride Glimmer Paper. So, I changed my color scheme and came up with this card. By the time I had the background images colored and stamped on the Whisper White cardstock I decided using the textured embossing folder was just going to make it too busy. So quit while I was pleased with the background and moved on to layering my other elements. I used Clear Wink of Stella on the tree and grass to give some sparkle to that image as the commercial card had sparkles on the pathway and church building. It's a nice touch that doesn't show up in the photo. 

The second card went together much more quickly and with no mess! I embossed some Shimmery White card stock and then used Clear Wink of Stella to add more sparkle to the embossed design. It is so pretty in real life but hard to get a good photo. I'm really happy with the Clear Wink of Stella; now thinking about ordering the Gold. Then it was a matter of coloring the stamped image. Instead of using lots of layers of cardstock to get the same framed effect as commercial card I decided to free-hand a line using Watermelon Wonder marker and then layering on Watermelon Wonder cardstock which I trimmed freehand to match the wavy look of the drawn line. 

I also used the inside of this commercial card for my card interior. See how the flowers are hanging upside down. I would never have thought to do that. But I did give it a try and am pleased with the way it looks.