Daring L.O.V.E.

Beckie has set this week's challenge at Daring Cardmakers and it's an ingenious twist on the theme of LOVE that's ubiquitous this Valentine's week. Love might be the theme but Beckie's asked us to incorporate it by taking the individual letters of the word and using at least one item beginning with each letter on our makes.

I had lots of ideas for the individual letters but coming up with a coherent group was more of a challenge! I
did, however, want to use this lovely owl stamp as he's a new acquisition and needed inking sooner rather than later. He's not only a handsome chap - he's big to boot! This is a 7" x 5" card.

A faux leather piece seemed like it would be a good "natural material" backdrop for him. It's kraft card sprayed with water and glycerin then scrunched, dried, embossed and inked.

Instructions for faux leather usually seem to tell you to emboss the damp piece of cardstock but I found the leathery creasing disappeared if I did that so I tried embossing once it was dry and was happier with the result. I used Microglaze to give the piece a finish with a slight sheen without being too glossy. It looks more realistic in real life than I could manage to capture with a photo.

Once he was coloured and cut out, I decided the owl was in danger of disappearing a bit on the leathery backdrop so I gave him a gesso "halo" for a bit of pop.

The letter V gave me most trouble for this since my first thoughts didn't work out and I almost gave up. I persevered and finally hit on adding a little touch of variegated leafing (having fiddled with vellum, wondered whether I could find any brown velvet ribbon in stash etc).

After much thought I have several other coherent groups scribbled on the back of an envelope - let's see whether time permits any more L.O.V.E. cards this week!

L - leather (faux, no animals were harmed in the making of this card!)
O - owl
V - variegated metal leaf flakes
E - embossing

Stamps:
T'wit T'woo by IndigoBlu
Big Day Today by Waltzingmouse Stamps

Ink: 
Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate (for the stamping)
Distress Tea Dye and Vintage Photo (for the "leather")

Paper: kraft and white

Other:
Cuttlebug Fancy Corners embossing folder
Glycerin/water in spray bottle
Variegated Easy Metal gilding flakes by Eberhard Faber
Copic markers
Gesso 
Judikins Microglaze
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!