The Joy of Sets Design Challenge 7 (Letter W) - Wild about Flowers

Goodness, we’ve already got to the 7^th challenge, time is flying by. If you haven't already looked, I suggest clicking on the link to take a peek at the fabulous designs on the Joy Of Sets Challenge Blog. 

I was in the craft room about to reach over for the Wild about Flowers stamp set when my notifications pinged to let me know that for this challenge we would be using a set with the letter “W” in the title. The timing was impeccable; I couldn’t have made it up!

After so much rain, it certainly shows what a difference a bit of sun makes, today's colours are much lighter and brighter than in previous days where black seemed to play a prominent part.

Pear Pizzazz

Calypso Coral

So Saffron

Soft Sky

Whisper White

First of all I cut a piece of Whisper White card stock a ¼” smaller than the folded base card which is also white. As you can see, I masked the edges of the piece of card with scrap paper, torn edges towards the centre to give a soft edge. I also used a circle to mask what would be the sun. Using a dauber, I sponged Soft Sky onto the card working from the edges inwards so the ink didn’t get behind my mask. I then used Pear Pizzazz to create the ground, again working in from the edges and using more torn paper to create “edges” to look like the ground was uneven. Once I was happy with that, I took the circle away and used the paper the circle was cut from so I could colour the sun without the ink merging with the sky.

When I was happy with the background effect, I removed the side masks so that my focal image could fall over the edge of the sponged area. I left the masks top and bottom though. Calypso Coral for the flower heads added a bit of zing.

I used dimensionals to mount this panel onto the base card. The sentiment was stamped in Smoky Slate (black would have been too harsh) and using the smallest oval from the Stitched Shape thinlits die cut it out before adhering with dimensionals once again.

I hope you like this card as much as I do. It's one that came out exactly as planned, I love white on white and simple designs. I'm now off to see what other stamp sets I can use in this way!

Happy Birthday Christine's Mum

Hello there, today I thought I'd show you the 2nd card I made for Christine. The first one was for her daughter's 14th birthday and this one for her mum's birthday. The design brief was "something with flowers but I'll leave it up to you." The other week I took delivery of a reasonably sized Stampin Up order - well by my standards anyway. As a hobby demonstrator I try to order once a quarter if I can so each parcel is jam packed full of goodies. Amongst my new stash was the Wild about Flowers stamp set. I#d been eying it up for a while and couldn't wait to try it out.

Perfect Plum

Sweet Sugarplum

Garden Green

Wild Wasabi

Whisper White

It's funny because since Wimbledon started I seem to have gravitated towards purple and green, must be a subconscious choice. It certainly wasn't planned, I'm not that organised.

I created my background by stamping off first to get a softer colour. I love cottage gardens and wanted to try and recreate a slightly wild and wooly effect with flowers jostling for position.

Using full strength colours I stamped one of the flower stalks onto white card  along with the flower heads. It really doesn't matter if they they don't align perfectly. I then die cut it out using a die from the Lots of Labels set. To make it stand out more I mounted it onto a slightly larger die cut in Perfect Plum, taken from the same set. Three gems and bugs strategically placed on the card just added a little extra zing. I always try to use an odd number as it has a more pleasing effect on the eye.

Now I don't know about you, but I really struggle to stamp sentiments straight. Sometimes you can get away with stamping on a scrap and either punching or die cutting which is very forgiving. But this time I wanted to stamp directly onto the card; not once but twice! I've worn glasses since I was 4 years old and as I've got older, my eyesight has increasingly got worse; sometimes I struggle to see the letters on the keyboard. And I've always had problems with straight lines! So, out came my trusty stamping press - it really does earn it's keep. With a practice on scrap paper to check alignment first, once I was happy I committed to the card. I think it looks ok, maybe you can see a slight slant? Anyway, a handmade card is made with care and love and may have slight imperfections that as far as I'm concerned, add to the overall effect. In fact there are no mistakes, only happy accidents!