H2H Challenges: Rhapsody in Blue

This week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge is called Rhapsody in Blue.  How many of you know Gershwin's famous piece?  I remember about a million pianos playing it at the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in LA in 1984 when I was just a little girl. :)  (It was actually 84 pianos, and here's a video link if you're interested.)  It remains a favorite piece of mine, so I had planned to have a musical theme to this week's creation.

As you can see, that didn't happen (but I love how this card turned out).  It is a standard A2 side-fold card with a Crystal Blue card stock base.  I decided to use the pretty color scheme of Crystal Blue, Twilight, and Outdoor Denim.  I pulled a few scraps from the Ariana paper pack and some extra Twilight and White Daisy card stock, and I was off!  I first stamped the clouds from the Lifting Spirits stamp set in Crystal Blue on the top portion of the card front.  I went back and colored them in with my (retired) White Daisy marker to give them that cool chalky effect.  The card sketch is from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 2, so I just followed the instructions for the other pieces.  (I did sand the Twilight strip to soften it just a bit.)

Before I got started with the focal image, I sponged a little Crystal Blue ink onto the stark White Daisy card stock to make it look a little more like the sky.  Then, I stamped the hot air balloon in Outdoor Denim twice: once on the White Daisy rectangle and again on a scrap from the Balloon Ride paper pack.  I used a variety of old & new markers (all 3 blues plus Buttercup and Sorbet) to color the balloon.  The top portion was cut out and paper pieced onto the rectangle.

To finish the card, I stamped the banner in Twilight and the sentiment in Outdoor Denim then cut out.  I scissor-distressed both the main image and its Outdoor Denim mat.  The finishing touches are the three epoxy bubbles.

This card is going to a very special friend who lost a cousin recently.  Thanks for leaving me a comment before you check out all of the H2H Design Team's Rhapsody in Blue inspiration for you.