May Cardmaking - sanded embossed backgrounds with oval images

These were our first cards for cardmaking this time around.  The backgrounds were initially colour printed with an inkjet printer with an all over design in one colour onto coloured cardstock.  After I cut them into quarter sheets for these cards I was looking to strengthen the colour so I added some colour by sponging ink through a stencil and then added a stamped background.  After this treatment they were embossed with a scroll works embossing folder which leaves a blank oval in the middle. 

We started by sanding the embossing in order to reveal the colour of the cardstock.  The yellow one provides less contrast than the blue one but you can see the scrollwork's yellow line.  We glued our backgrounds to coordinating card front.  Oval focal elements work well so I laser printed some digital images  (flowers -Blackberry Jelly    bear - Birdie Brown) and trimmed them from the sheet by die cutting them with my oval Nestibilities.  Next, I used the next sized oval Nestibilities and cut a coordinating layer from cardstock.  I watercoloured the images, adhered them to the coordinating layers and then mounted my large focal elements to my card fronts using 3D foam tape.  I still felt like they needed a bit of something so we coloured clear rhinestones with coloured Sharpie markers and adhered them onto the images.  Really like how these cards worked out and it was fun to see how the sanding worked on the other cards.  

Therese