Another Card for Dad

My Dad isn't very well and is in the hospital at the moment - even worse it's a hospital back in Canada so I can't visit, and due to his Parkinsons he can't speak on the phone very easily.  To help make sure he knows that I'm thinking of him I've been busily making and sending cards every few days.

This first one is my least favourite of the bunch!   But I did learn a few things making it - and it's not horrific or anything. 

I used the base shapes on the Imagine and a pattern from Imagine More Cards to make the shaped rectangle (is that what those are called?)(does anyone know?) and then cut the same shape a wee bit bigger out of  navy blue for the shadow.

The 'just a little hello' is also from Imagine More Cards and the flowers are from Better Together.

The first thing I learned was how effective a small border could make to helping a shape pop out.  Adding the dark blue around the flower paper and the 'just a little hello' circle made a real difference to the card - and I don't think it would have worked at all without it.

My second lesson was in the power of decoupage layering.  My first version of the 'just a little hello' circle was print flat -- and it wasn't very interesting.  I went back to my trusty Imagine and recut the image using the 'layering' option, opened up the bag of foam pads I'd recently bought and I was reallly impressed at the improvement.  I also ditched the bird and replaced it with a small flwoer in similar colours to the large flowers.

I added a bit of glitter to the flower stems and added a flower to the inside of the card to finish it off.