Hugs and Birthday Wishes

Hello and happy Friday.  I fell in love with Michele's card at this week's MUSE Challenge #156 and had to make time to play along.

I was inspired by Michele's sponging, her diagonal design and her die cutting technique.

I masked off the upper 2/3 of my card front and sponged a light layer of Distress Tumbled Glass ink over the open 1/3 of the card.  

Then, I used a Hero Arts stencil and sponged more Tumbled Glass and Mermaid Lagoon inks over the area, die cut and then inlaid back my Hugs word die (layered a few times).  I added the rest of my sentiment with foam tape.

I am also entering this card at Simon Says Monday make your own background.

Here is the first version of the card I made.  I did not sponge the area with Tumbled Glass ink first, and my second Distress Ink was Broken China.

I liked this version, but wanted to try it with more sponging because I thought that the die cut word did not stand out enough.

I will enter this card at Addicted to Stamps and More #184.

I still can't get enough of the adorable pandas from ME Pandamonium.  I used that set to make a birthday card for my mom, who always visits the pandas at the San Diego zoo whenever she is in town.  

I am also entering this card at A Blog Named Hero where the challenge is Rainbow, and Simon Says Wednesday A Bit O Green.  My birthday sentiment is from Hero Arts Birthday Messages, one of my very first stamping purchases and something that I still use all the time.

Thanks for Visiting