The design elements you suggested immediately reminded me of "Loteria" cards -- so I've made you your very own. The first uses traditional flames for the corazon. (Please feel free to correct my Spanish tag at the bottom. I was going for "A Beautiful Life" -- could put in any phrase you like!)
wow, cool idea, i actually started thinking about a loteria card as i was writing this up last night. the colors are great - i prefer the flames how about a Old English font - to make it look a little more Chicano style? The tag line could be La Mamasota, or La Guapa something fun like that
Chica! Using a Gothic/Old English font was a brilliant idea -- thanks for the push in that direction. I'm presenting 5 options (the first two are the same font, one with white in the front, the other with dark grey in the front). I tried to find a balance of that unique Chicano look, while remaining readable. Please let me know which font you like best -- I think all could use some tweaking once the choices are narrowed down. Also, if none of these are quite right, let me know which style in general you like: pointy, round, lots of flourish, simple -- I'm happy to keep looking.
Another variation -- switching out the background and ribbon colors. The blue seems like the quintessential Loteria background color, but replacing it with green is quite zoomy.
Keep talking to me mujer! These are all great ideas. I like the idea of capital B with lowercase o,j,i,e. I love the big flourish of the B in #40 (it is my favorite font choice of the different options) and the green background is very "clean." I love the turquoise, but the green is cool too - mostly because I am married to Mr. Greene, and although I didn't take his last name, I am partial to the color (and the man :0)
I get what you are saying about the readability, across the banner. So I love the flourish of the Old English, - but taking that concept and making the lines a bit cleaner for readability sounds like a good compromise.
What about placing the 40 in a slightly different area? I prefer it in the banner vs. above the banner, but I will look to your design to show me perhaps how it might look in a different location. Also maybe a mermaid in shadow form in the heart. I really like the concentric hearts in your heart design, it adds depth to the design.
Working on a sirena as we speak... will show her to you in various ways! Oh, and do you mean the flourish/font used in #20? (Me thinks the number "40" is taking over your life!)