Beautiful You, Avant-Garden, Birthday Card

Today I thought I would dig out another set and play with it. I had a lot of fun making this card.  I LOVE making red, white and black cards anyway and this lady fit the bill perfectly.  

I'm betting you are anxious to know how I made this card!!! LOLThe base of my card is a folded half sheet of Basic Black cardstock.  I added a 4" x 5-1/4" of Whisper White cardstock on top of that.  

For the fun layered panels I used Real Red cardstock that was cut 4" x 1-3/4".  The Basic Black layer behind it was cut 4" x 1-7/8".  

The other panel was a piece of Decorative Paper from the 12" x 12" Brights pack.  I loved those large dots and I thought it would look nice with the lady image.  I cut that dotted paper 4" x 1-1/2". The Basic Black layer was cut 4-1/8" x  1-5/8".  

The focal panel was cut 3" x 2" and the Basic Black layer was cut 3-1/8" x 2-1/8".  I used watercolor paper for the focal panel.  

The words are from the "Avant-Garden" set.  I just thought that font is so sweet looking.  The set does come with birthday wishes but it added the word "gorgeous" but I wasn't so fond of it so I found a different greeting.  This would also make a great Mother's Day card (if you can find the wording to fit in that area, or you can add it on the inside.  

To color in the image I used the Real Red marker and a blender pen.  I scribbled the marker on one of my clear stamping blocks and picked up the color with a blender pen. I colored the sides and then moved towards the center.  By the time I got to the center it was coloring pretty light.  I always started on the sides so I didn't get the center too dark.  I did the same with the skin.  I used Pirouette Pink for that.  For the shadowing, I used the Basic Gray watercolor pencil. I colored around the image and then I took the blender pen and rubbed the color in.  It's a lot easier than it sounds.  Oh and I used the smoother side of the watercolor paper.  I know you're suppose to use the other side but it was too textured to get a crisp image.  

I taped all the layers in place and then I added the words using Dimensionals.  

And no, I didn't find this card on Pinterest!!!  I designed it all by myself!!  LOL  And I think I'm going to hang on to this card for a while.  I kind of like it!!! LOL

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda