Heat Embossed, Inky Backgrounds and Die Cuts

Hello! I have two new cards to share and they have similar designs. for both cards, I started by stamping  and heat embossing the background. Their paths diverged a bit from there, but then I finished them off with die cuts and small embellishments.

First up is an anniversary card. Since we are nearing Christmas, I decided to used this leaf heart background and go for a poinsettia look. I colored the heart with two colors of red/pink watercolor pencils and the used a water brush the blend the color. For the outer leaves I used two greens. To add a bit to the center heart, I colored around the leaves with a light blue watercolor pencil and then blended the color with a Wink of Stella shimmer pen. I used my Cricut and a couple of specialty papers to cut the sentiment. I finished off the card with some blue and green pearls and gems.

My second card is a birthday card for my nephew. I again began by stamping and heat embossing the background. I then pressed Distress Oxide inks onto the cover of my Misti and sprayed them with water. I pressed the panel into the ink and let it dry. I repeated this a few times to give the background depth. I again used my Cricut to cut the basketball and number. The number got a little to close to another cut that had been done in the paper and so the bottom right corner was missing, hence the punched star. I finished off this card with some iridescent foil stars.