Valentine Card {with Eclectica & Hot Picks stamps by Joanne Wardle}

Hi everyone, Joanne here. I really enjoyed my Guest designer spot, so I was thrilled to be asked to do a regular monthly spot - what I like to think of as my clean and simple corner.

Valentine's day is approaching so I decided to concentrate on a romantic card, using Darcy's lovely stamps. 

I started by stamping the small heart from the Darcy set, EDY01 twice onto white card using Little Black Dress. 

I apply the ink by putting a small amount onto my glass mat and then applying it with cut'n'dry foam. You may notice one thing appears to be missing.. no ink. I have found that stamping with fresco paints creates such a lovely effect that I don't use inks anywhere near as much as I used to. Cleaning up is a breeze too: just a wipe with a microfibre cloth does the trick.

Once the black was dry, I applied London bus paint.

I inked up the mini 96 flourish (this is definitely going to be a new favourite) with Hey Pesto paint

 and the sentiment from HPXT03  with Little Black Dress fresco acrylic paint.

I stamped them as shown, then added the splatter from HPXT01 (an old favourite)

I then cut out the hearts and moulded them with an embossing tool and embossing mat (actually mine is an old stamping mat). Any soft mat will do, if you don't have one, just do it in the palm of your hand. If you don't have an embossing tool, you can use something like the end of a paintbrush.

Attach to the card with a small triangle of 3D foam.

That's it all done, here is a close up of the 3D hearts.

Thank you for looking and I hope you enjoyed this project. I will no doubt be back again in the future, Joanne. 

A huge thank you to Joanne from PaperArtsy HQ. We love your clean and simple style and it is a pleasure to have you back with us. The layering of the stamped images with paint instead of ink works perfectly and adds subtle dimension. We love the embossed hearts, they really pop. 

If you would like to join in our weekly challenge with any of this week's guests who have blogged since Sunday night, then join in to link up your creativity HERE. You will go in the draw to win PA stamps of your choice! You need to link your entry by 17:00 (London time) Sunday January 12th 2014.