I decided to put one of my gel plate backgrounds to use with this card:

The background was created using acrylic paints and a leaf stencil, onto which I also sprayed some Distress mica stain, add some dribbles of water, held the paper up to allow some drippage, and then let it dry.

I notice the mica stain seemed to resist the acrylic paint, so you can still see some leaves in the background.

The leaves are from a new Tim Holtz set, and the yellow parts are from an ink smooshing session, and that panel used to die cut the base leaves.

I decided to use red for the inner leave detail to really make them pop.

The sentiment is a foiled strip.

I am glad I was able to photograph the shimmer and shine of the distress mica stains.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – happy birthday

Color Throwdown – red, yellow, green, white

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media

Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge – anything goes mixed media

Crafting Happiness – anything goes

AAA Birthday challenge – anything goes birthday

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes – option trees and/or leaves taken