In the Middle of the Night

I've been planning this owl card since the VivaLasVegaStamps April challenge mood board was published... I knew I wanted to use this lovely owl and was inspired by (at least) the pink-white-black colour scheme, Mary Vogel Lozinak stamps, tangles, circles, stars and distress. I am also posting for the Designs by Ryn April challenge and the SimonSaysStamp challenges Monday (In the Middle) and Wednesday (Make Your Own Background).

I upcycled a gloomy 6x6 paper by glueing torn pieces from circle-themed math book pages. They were gessoed and sprayed with Dylusions pink and purple sprays to get the "razzleberry" look. The star crescent stencil is from Imagination Crafts and the branch from Designs by Ryn. I tried gesso for the stars, but they stayed pink, so I used an embossing dauber and heat embossed with white. The branch has been done with embossing paste and embossing powder according to the tutorial on Tim Holtz's March tag (using black embossing powder instead of gold).

The owl (VLVS Lozinac range) and sentiment (Chocolate Baroque) were stamped on coated stamping paper and heat embossed with VLVS Ultra High Gloss Embossing powder. Once they were cut out, I used a couple of other Lozinac stamps on the scrap: these were cut into the "tangled" leaves. Its amazing how the quality cardstock really brings out the detail in these stamps! I don't think the ink has half the effect (this is Archival, I usually use Versafine, and the card is from Crafty Individuals).

I sewed around my piece, and was happily surprised by my sewing machine messing the thread on the backside... Just the right detail for the empty upper edge! I just bought 7x7 card blanks, this gave a lovely amount of space, allowing to spread the leaves a bit outside the lines. Can't help smiling when I look at this, he's such a cutie :)