my new favorite card of the year...

...ok, yeah: a year which admittedly is only a month old; but still, i really like this one, so for once i'm gonna show it first and talk about it after:

(digital collage made using my own (altered-in-photoshop) lotus photo blended with a cloud/text print paper from oscraps' "parisian holiday" kit, and a few anna apnes music brushes printed twice on glossy photo paper and once on an inkjet transparency; the transparency version was layered onto real-life vintage music paper which i had masked and misted beforehand, then cut into the gothic arch shape; some scraps of the same misted music paper (& a little chinese newspaper) make up the border strip and butterfly; other "real life" supplies: black glossy cardstock: ranger; inks: ranger, tattered angels, colorbox; pearls: recollections; punch: martha stewart; rub-on: basic grey; adhesives: tombow monorunner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i realize that looks like a big supply list, but actually, most of my "technique" is in there as well. being a bit lazy, i tend not to write tutorials without a good reason, but i try to touch on the highlights, and i'm always very happy to answer questions, so if you'd like more detail, just email me or leave a comment and i'll do my best. 

essentially i took a digital collage i made ages ago whilst playing around in photoshop, printed it out a few times, and then played around some more by adding "real life" things like masks, mists and stamps... which MOSTLY do not show because they're either on one of the "extra" bits that wound up not being used in the finished card, OR wound up under the image that's printed on transparency! let me just say that i'm absolutely fine with that because the *PLAYING* was the entire point; the fact that i got a "usable" card at the end is just a really nice-- fairly unexpected-- bonus! :)

the card itself was made to mojo monday sketch 226, and i think you'll agree that apart from the "gothic arch" shape i was pretty faithful: 

i like ALL my cards to have layers, dimension, and a bit of texture to them; but i find when i'm using digi-stuffs i am more than usually vigilant on this point. in this case, i've layered the background collage and the arch element onto very thin mats of black glossy cardstock and machine stitched around the edges. the entire arch, the central flower image, and a punched butterfly are all inked and mounted on foam tape just to stand out that little extra bit more.

believe it or not, i used some of the scraps and leftovers from this card to make another card... i confess, i HATE to put away all the little "leftovers" and often paste them into a journal or just have a bit of "play" with them purely in order to avoid cleaning up!!!  i will show you that one later! ciao, darlings! ♥