Bring Your Own Sunshine

This week's Heart2Heart challenge is: Inspired by a Book.  In an act of pure, shameless self-promotion, I am entering this card based off my novella, Waiting on a Promise, coming out in February.  It will be one of nine stories in The Homestead Brides Collection (pre-orders available).

As I was planning out my heroine's character, one saying kept playing through my mind.  I'd not heard it before CTMH came out with the promotional stamp set "You Are My Happy" last year, but it has inspired me to consciously think about how I can add "sunshine" to every day and every situation.  It's also very applicable to those of us in the military who must move to places we might not otherwise pick.

I cut the saying apart (making sure I added a few notches so I could fit it all back together again), inked it in Honey (which didn't show up well enough) then inked it in Pacifica and tried to do a shadow stamping thing (which didn't work very well because the Honey ink didn't show up well enough. **Sigh**)

Both the background panel and the banner were cut using Artbooking. I adjusted the panel to 5.25x4" manually, then adjusted the banner until it looked right in Cricut Design Space.  The banner ended up being .75x3.61".  I backed the banner with Buttercup paper because the "busy-ness" of the Confetti Wishes paper didn't look good with two colors showing through the open cuts to my eye.

Lots of stitching later, done!  Well...done after I pulled a gazillion threads through to the back and taped them down.  Before I send this card off, I'll be adding a panel to the inside to cover the stitching.  It really is a mess back there.

When the book comes out, you will see that I modified the saying in my dedication.  Okay...pure, shameless self-promotion over.  You may now go back to your regularly scheduled blog hopping.

Until next time,
Becca