"February / Valentine" - Postcard

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(Click on image to enlarge)

I was thrilled when I read Tim Holtz's February challenge post, where he said his challenge is open to more than just tags. I decided to make a matching postcard for my tag. (I know his challenge isn't meant for strictly digital, but I think I've become a better artist because of using some of his techniques, so I'm posting this entry. Update: only one entry is allowed per person, and I already entered my tag for his challenge, so my postcard can't be entered.)

I re-used some of the same elements that I had created for my tag for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - February challenge in this postcard.

Because everything on this is old, I am also entering it in this week's Tuesday's Treasures.

I mimicked Tim's steps to create my postcard, but I made mine slightly differently than his piece.

I started with a pseudo distressed/water spritzed background. I used an all over flower and leaf image to create a monoprint stencil and used a chalk brush to ink that onto the background. I created a heart stencil and used a smoke brush to ink that. Next, I gold embossed text over the entire card. I completed the piece by adding embellishments and text strips (most of which I had already created when I made the tag).

I found the photobooth portrait on the Internet, and color tinted it. (To the best of my knowledge, the image was allowed to be reused without restrictions.) I created a large heart template, then used it to cut out a section of an old book page. (I used a bevel script to give it dimension.) I also cut out some flowers from old book pages. Then I added text strips on white construction paper. I added a drop shadow to the embellishments, to give the illusion of depth.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.16.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

The words in the background are from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe.

The font is Jane Austen.

The foreground font is Courier New.