Make it Monday #98

Good morning friends (well it WAS morning when I started this post, but had blogger issues and loading photos...grrrrrr!).  Anyways, time to be honest here...I caved!  Just about every stamping blog you look at these days has the chalkboard technique on it and I just haven't been that thrilled with it.  And then when PTI's Make it Monday #98 Challenge came up this week, I thought, "oh great...more chalkboard art"!!  Of course I've had to look at all the entries though this week, and here's where I have to be honest....it started growing on me!  I think I originally thought it would be too time consuming, too fussy, and too messy to work worth, but last night I thought I'd give it a try!  I actually had a LOT of fun and here's what I came up with:

I kept mine very simple while I learned this technique, because there definitely is a bit of a learning curve!  Just using the embossing buddy was a learning experience for me. (I didn't have one, so I made one using a scrap of material and baking powder, but the type of fabric you use must make a difference because I had baking powder everywhere!!)  But anyway, I started with a black heart cut with PTI's Limitless Layers 2 1/4" hearts and stamped the "L VE" stamp from PTI's  "Heart to Heart #11" with Versa Mark and then tried to line up the outlined heart between the L & V...harder than it looks and went through a few hearts!  Once I embossed with the white embossing powder, things went a lot smoother and I added the little heart and leaves from PTI's "Heart to Heart #7 set, and then dabbed on the white pigment ink to give the heart the erased chalkboard look.  I added a pop of red with another heart layer (LOVE this die set!!) and then layered that to my black panel that that I stamped and embossed the flourish from SU's "Priceless" stamp set.  After dabbing more white ink to this layer and adding my outside edge markings with the white pencil, I adhered this layer to a white card base.  Kind of hard to see in the photo, but I did add a few rhinestones to the center of the flower and the flourish and then ended with a sheer red ribbon on the side.

This challenge was a good one for me to see "outside the box" and try things that I've never done before. My mom used to always tell me about trying new things and how do you know unless you try...guess I should have listened!  Anyway, hope you all have a great weekend and thanks so much for stopping by! :0)