Am I Blue?

This card came together quickly with the use of dimensional elements from the dollar store.  For me a card idea can start from a variety of elements.  In this case, I started by going through my blue scraps to see what I had that would work for background paper.  I found this bit of "Shine Design" paper from Hot Off the Press that I wanted to use, and it was the springboard for this card.  (It also has an "oops" that was worked into the final product.)

Materials:

• 2 different "Shine Design" patterns (Hot Off the Press)
• Die sets - "Elegant Labels Four" & "Labels Four" (Spellbinders)
• "Imperial" M-Bossabilities Folder (Spellbinders)
• Silver ribbon
• "Thinking of You" stamp (JustRite)
• Dimensional elements from dollar store

Method:

1. Focal: I mounted my dollar store elements on an embossed white background that was matted on dark blue.  As you can see, I fussy cut around the embossed image before matting it.  The flower in the lower corner had a butterfly attached to it that I cut off and saved for my sentiment.
2. Sentiment:  I started my sentiment section by cutting a white piece with a Labels Four die and the dark blue Shine Design with a die from Elegant Labels Four.  Then I stamped my sentiment.  My plan had been to run a series of stamped sentiments - from light colored to dark (silver, lavender, dark blue).  However, when I tried it, the silver just didn't show up well enough, so I stamped over it with the blue.  Unfortunately, the silver then showed up really well and was not aligned well with the blue.  So, I took a water brush, picked up some of the silver ink and covered the whole with a thinned coat of silver - took care of the stamped silver very well!  I finished it off by inking the edges of the piece, adding the dimensional butterfly.  I threaded a silver ribbon through the dark blue piece, and the attached the sentiment with foam tape.
3. After attaching my elements to the light blue (including wrapping the ribbon ends behind and taping them there), I created a fake mat with strips of dark blue and added the whole to the front of my card.