White Pencil Technique and O MY Chocolate!

I started fiddling around with the idea for this card a few days ago after seeing a few card blogs featuring images stamped on Basic Black card stock with Whisper White ink and colored with a white pencil to shade, highlight, seem to reflect light...in short, make way cool. The one that really stuck in my brain was this one by Ellen Hutson. Take a minute to click over and view it, and you'll know what I was inspired by! Go on...I'll wait.

Okay, having seen this work of ART, you now understand my challenge. I wasn't trying to be as awesome as Ellen is, but I wanted to figure out how to do this. The problem is that I little artistic knowledge about how light creates highlights and shadows, and I have even less of an idea how to translate that to the image I chose.

Not to be put off, though, I decided to start simple with the outline flower image from Wonderful You. Okay, I know it's not as 3-D as Ellen's image, but I'm tryin'! I guessed where to color so as to create the highlighting/shadow effect. I'm not sure I guessed correctly. I know Ellen described how she did hers, but it didn't really fully translate to my image. So, did I do it right? Does anybody besides me care? I was having trouble with the circular nature of the petals.

Still, the card was fun. I went with a gate fold, in order to feature the image. I love black and bold colors together, so I used this scrap of Tempting Turquoise that was on my desk and went to town. I combed through my stash of stuff and found a partially used, retired Simply Scrappin' Kit that had a strip of TT with white flowers, as well as the cute little photo corners. Black gingham ribbon and eyelets and it's complete!

And now something to warm your heart and make you drool...Last night my dear husband went to dinner with an old friend from Chicago who was in town on business. They went out for steak near Perimeter Mall, which is about 30-35 miles from our house. As he was contemplating the specific restaurant, I casually shared, "I think there's a good restaurant near Alon's." He didn't seem to take the bait, or even acknowledge my comment.

What's Alon's? Why did I want him to go there? Alon's is the MOST AMAZING bakery, delicatessen, gourmet food store, espresso bar, and general foodie heaven we have found in Atlanta! We had gone there on a date this spring, and it was there I tasted Chocolate Louise Cake. Bob had chosen it as his dessert after our wonderful lunch, and he was kind enough to let me taste it(I'd chosen chocolate gelato that didn't even begin to compare). He's such a good sharer.

I'm not sure words adequately describe this fantasmic palate pleasure. The pastry chef and owner Alon Balshan uses his Aunt Louise's recipe for a dark, dense without being the slightest bit heavy, chocolate cake that's topped with a silky smoother than smooth chocolate hazelnut cream. The band with the gold stars? That's chocolate as well, and it's topped with unsweetened whipped cream and some really nice delicate chocolate stick. It's almost a religious experience. Enough to make your mouth swear off all other food for the rest of the day.

ANYWAY, I was jonesin' for that taste again, and I was hoping that Bob would get my hint or receive my ESP and get me one of those cakes just because. He texted me during dinner to tell me that the steak was great. I asked what he was doing for dessert. He told me they were skipping it because they were too full. I thought he wasn't getting my signals and there would be no oh my goodness cake for me.

I WAS WRONG!!! Today was the first day of you know what, and the perfect time to enjoy such a treat! I reveled in this delicacy so much that Michael told me to go away so that he didn't have to watch me while he was working on his homework. It's so rich that I almost couldn't finish it...BUT I DID! Not only did my DH bring one home for me, he brought one home for each of us. No sharing! Isn't he the BESTEST husband ever?!