Mix it Up Challenge #52 {Stitched with Love}

Today I'm sharing my card for the February SugarPea Designs Mix it Up Challenge! I'm just loving all of the Valentine's Day inspiration everywhere! I know I will be making a few more Valentine cards before the 14th rolls around, but I've also been having fun using Valentine inspiration to create other types of cards as well, which is  what I've done today. 

I wanted to make sure I used both sides of the challenge; the photo and sketch. I turned the sketch sideways and took a few liberties, as usual! ha ha! The large heart, bokeh background, colors, and twine were all the things that inspired me the most.

 I recently purchased the Knit Wit stamp set and have been dying to get it inky. I wasn't on the Design Team when this was released, but I keep seeing such cute cards made with it, so I decided it needed to come and live with me. To begin this design, I used the Harlequin Coverplate with an embossing mat to dry emboss, rather than die cut. It really gave the cardstock the quilted look that I was hoping to achieve with today's design.

I also used the Card Front Element Builders to create the curvy line on the pink portion. I needed to create a "channel" so that I could sew the hearts in place. I really like the way the Bokeh background looks in the photo, and this was how I decided to interpret that onto my card. I shared how to sew the hearts HERE if you are interested. It is very easy, but it takes a little bit of fidgeting to get things aligned properly. The stitching also reinforced the theme of today's card.

The pink panel and the stitched hearts are layered onto a piece of Soft Stone cardstock that has also been cut using the Card Front Element Builders SugarCuts. Once again, it has those fabulous stitching lines and sweet scallops!

The heart is from the Postage Stamp SugarCuts and is layered twice for durability. I heat embossed the sentiment, which is from the Knit Wit set, in white onto the heart. I added it to the pink panel using foam squares. It is tied up with some red and white baker's twine. The image is stamped in Black ink and colored using Copic Markers. I added some Wink of Stella to the image for some shine and attached it just under the sentiment using foam squares.

I added some sequins as per the dots in the sketch to give it some added detail. Please head to the SugarPea Designs Blog so that you can play along! I hope to see your card in the gallery this month! Thanks for fluttering by!