Gallery Idol 2014!!

Hello!  I'm so excited to post today!  I worked extra hard on a card this weekend because I'm participating in this year's Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine's Gallery Idol Contest!!  I found out on Friday that I made it through to the 2nd round.  We were given the challenge of creating a card using diecuts and only 3 days to work on it.  I know what you're thinking- diecuts??  Really- you think that's hard!  Well it might seem easy but it was also wwaaayyy easy to overthink!  I spent all Friday and Saturday working on another card that ended up being too overworked.  Then I woke up this morning and started with a fresh outlook.  I love how my final card turned out:

I started off my craft time by cleaning up my work area.  I found all of these diecuts in a pile of leftover and discarded items- do you save yours, too?  The happy is by Avery Elle and the hello is by Paper Smooches.  I loved how they looked together and grabbed a SRM Stickers glassine envelope to use as a base- these are great to add to card fronts to hold gift cards!

The feathers (Paper Smooches) are die cut out of Scor-Tape sheets and then glittered.  I dipped the tips into the gold glitter first, pressing it into the sticky and sprinkling just a bit down the die.  Next, I pressed my favorite glitter (Elizabeth Crafts Warm Diamond) over the entire feather.  It is so pretty and sparkly in real life!

The patterned papers are a mix- the background is from the new Something Wonderful collection by Teresa Collins, the coral and yellow watercolored papers are from Stampin' Up! and the aqua is from the Plus One collection by Amy Tangerine for American Crafts.

I added a bit of machine sewing and left my threads long to fill in some space beneath the glassine envelope.  I thought it needed just a bit of color so I added the heart brad by Teresa Collins Designs next.  Lastly, I added a Starbucks gift card to the inside of the glassine envelope for the lucky recipient!

The feathers are my favorite part!  I've wanted to make glittered feathers since I cut them a couple of months ago!  Really, anything glittered is my favorite lol!  Here is a quick video so you could see all that great glitter in action:

So, now that you've seen my card, pop over to the Gallery Idol 2014 website and vote for your favorite card!  The top twenty contestants have created some amazing projects!  Thanks for all your support and cheerleading!  All the kind comments here, through email, and on Facebook have been so thoughtful- I really appreciate them!