Monotone Botanical Blooms

Hello!

I hope all is well in your corner of the world!  It SNOWED here last night...I'm more than a little confused as to how we can go from +30 degrees Celsius last week to the -1 degree I woke up to this morning!!  Oh well, its a perfect day to feel guilt free about creating because it's too cold to do much outdoors!  I'm finally feeling like I have some of my creative mojo back and I'm running with it!

Have you picked up the Botanical Blooms bundle yet?  When I seen it in the Occasions catalog it immediately went to the top of my must have list.  I ordered it with my first order and when it arrived I lovingly placed it at eye level on the shelf in front of my work station so I could use it first chance I got.  And there is sat...for close to three months.  I'd fell into a huge creative block black hole and I couldn't dig myself out.  I only completed what I absolutely had to and it was by no means my finest work (thus the lack of sharing here on the blog).

I decided that it was for the best if I took a step back for a while from card making and I'm so glad I did!  I began working on sorting through 10 years of photos and started my Project Life journey (stay tuned for an upcoming detailed post on just that!) knowing that it would only be a matter of time before I missed card making.  It took a couple of months but the desire to create is slowly returning. Sometimes a breather (even from a hobby you love) is exactly what is needed to get yourself back on track.

So, after all that ramble let's get back to today's card!  The Botanical Blooms and matching framelits never strayed far from my mind or line of vision after I purchased them.  I was seeing tons of inspiration from fellow stampers and when the time was right, I couldn't wait to dig in.  I decided to try a monochromatic scheme from my first attempt using just Crumb Cake card stock and ink. Because of the additional cut outs within the framelit pieces you can achieve serious dimension, even if your just using one color.  A few Stampin' Dimensionals help lift the flowers even further off the card front.

I added large pearls into the center of each flower to add a little more interest.  The images are so versatile you can literally achieve any look from a tropical paradise to a romantic vintage scene.  I'm keeping this bundle at arms reach for a long time to come!  Three dimensional projects are coming to a blog near you soon ;)

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Botanical Blooms

Card Stock: Crumb Cake, Elegant Eggplant

Ink: Crumb Cake

Big Shot: Botanical Builder Framelits, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder (retired)

Accessories: Basic Pearls, Multi purpose liquid glue, Stampin' Dimensionals

I hope you have a wonderful day; time to put the technology away and get creating!  Until next time...

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Watercolored Birthday Blooms

Hello!

I haven't played with my Watercolor Pencils in forever and this Birthday Bloom set was the perfect choice to rekindle my love of them!  Coloring has to be the most relaxing thing ever...I guess that explains why those adult coloring books have become so popular as of late (took everyone long enough to figure out what we already knew, right?).

The pencils I used aren't anything special.  I bought them well before I was a card maker and all truth be told I don't even remember where I purchased them.  To me that's proof that you don't always need the most fancy of tools to get a wonderful result!  As long as you work on your technique you can make almost anything work, I promise!  I worked with a small paint brush to blend my colors but an Aqua Painter would have worked just as well :)

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Birthday Blooms, Good Greetings

Card Stock: Watercolor Paper, Watermelon Wonder, Mint Macaron, Birthday Bouquet DSP

Ink: Basic Gray Archival 

Big Shot: N/A

Accessories: Watercolor Pencils, Small paint brush, Fast Fuse

What is your favorite way to water color?  I'd love to hear about your own tips and techniques to achieving a water colored image!

Until next time...

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Nightime Magic Shadow Box Card

Hello!

I hope today finds you well!  Today I'd like to share an interesting card fold; the Shadow Box.  I really like how it "frames up" an image.  There are so many possibilities with a card like this! Imagine pretty patterned paper running along the outer edges framing a poetic saying or a bouquet of flowers.  Or how about a landscape - trees in the foreground and a winding path that flows into the distance?  I have a feeling I might have to make another one of these in the near future!

I unfortunately took these photos on a gloomy day so the Wink of Stella doesn't show up very well.  I used it to highlight the moon so it would sparkle; you'll just have to use your imagination and trust me that its there ;)

The little fairy sitting on a toadstool is actually not a silhouette image.  I found her in my stamp stash and simply colored her in completely with a Basic Black marker.  

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: World of Dreams, In the Meadow, Fairy (origin unknown)

Card Stock: Lost Lagoon, Whisper White

Ink: Tuxedo Black Momento, Smoky Slate, Lost Lagoon, 

Big Shot: N/A

Punches: 1-3/4" Circle Punch

Accessories: Basic Black marker, Multi-purpose liquid glue, Clear Wink of Stella

The key to creating a card like this is to stamp the entire card before its assembled so that the images "flow" from the upper to lower sections.  After you complete this step add a secondary stamped (in this case the fairy) panel to the inside of the frame to cover up the card assembly.  To get a better idea of what I mean, check out the video tutorial below so you can begin assembling your very own Shadow Box cards!  They do a great job of explaining everything so that the steps are crystal clear!

I hope you've enjoyed this unique card fold and use it as inspiration for an upcoming card!  Until next time...

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