OH NO 4-0!

One of my friends is hitting the dreaded 40 this week and we're going out tonight to commiserate celebrate.  Naturally this needed a special card and as soon as I saw the new release of "uptown girls" from Stamping Bella I had to have them as they are all so perfect for my friends.  For the 40th I went with this version as the matching sentiment is so apt for the lady in question:

I decided to paperpiece their evening wear, and have done a close up below so you can see the detail.  On the black glitter paper I just added some pencil lines to show curves.  On the teal dress I used 3 shades of BG copic markers to add some depth of shading to the natural folds and some stickles to the trim.  I love paperpiecing - its such a quick way to "colour" a card and can be just as effective as colouring on the right image.  I edged the image, sentiment and mats with pewter embossing powder by "dipping" them into the ink pad.  I like the uneven look it gives.

The rest of the colouring is done with copics and I finished the glasses with a little glossy accents.  I used the same DP for the teal dress as one of my background papers - I like to do this as it ties the card together - and then I selected another from the same pad (DCVW linnen stack) to add some contrast and interest whilst keeping in the same colour family.  A strip of black glitter covers the join and ties into the black dress and the "FORTY" was cute using a sizzix alphabet strip again from black glitter paper.

If you like the "girls", then make sure you check them out - they are Canadian but are available in the UK from Quixotic Paperie here and there are some awesome Christmas ones out now too.  They are much bigger than standard bellas so make excellent larger cards (mine is A5 size)

I'm entering the following challenges with it:

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes with bling
Sweet Stampin - Anything Goes
Totally Papercrafts - Glitter It
Phindy's Place - Paperpiecing

Thanks for stopping by.

Craftilicious x