Flora Thanks and Hyacinth Birthday

Hi there and welcome back!  I haven't posted for a couple of weeks due to the holiday, family visit and just otherwise attending to other things.  But tonight I have two cards to share that I made as part of a birthday gift for a friend.  I've used the colors from Color Throwdown for both cards and the current challenge from Freshly Made Sketches for the first one that I will share with you.

ctd 421

FMS 265

I especially love this weeks colors for the CTD challenge (purple, aqua and green - my heart be still!)and that it would finally be the opportunity for me to use the fig stamp from the Fabulous Flora stamp set.  It is a Host set from the current annual Stampin' Up! catalogue.  I began by stamping the image in Versafine Onyx Black on Strathmore Mixed Media paper.  It's a pigment ink so I let it dry, then used a blender pen and Ranger Distress inks to color the flowers and fruit.  My husband tells me that figs are more of a dark ruby color, but I decided to use a little artistic license in my creation.  ;-)  Finally, I used Tempting Turquoise around the edge of the image.

Next, a piece of Textured Tempting Turquoise card stock (long retired) was die cut with a Layering Circles die then the floral image was adhered underneath with foam tape.  The sentiment was cut from Basic Black card stock with a die from Simon Says Stamp.  Once that was glued in place, I added a few sequins.  Pretty easy!

My second card uses the hyacinth image from the Helping Me Grow stamp set.  I really struggled with this image when I first got the stamp set.  I just could not get a good image despite inking well and found water coloring with reinkers and paint brushes was challenging due to the detail.  And I guess I'm enough of a control freak that I haven't comfortable with the water on water method of water coloring, where the color moves outside the image.  Since I first tried using this stamp I purchased a Misti, which has been the answer for me to stamping good images, and I decided to use a blender pen to color it rather than water coloring and that worked out great.

This image was colored with the same inks as the first card but this time I lightly sponged Tempting Turquoise in the background after using masking fluid to cover the flowers and stem.  The sentiment is from a sweet Verve stamp set that has a lovely variety of greetings.  Again a few sequins were added after mounting on a panel of black and a Rich Razzleberry card base.  The final touch was to apply clear Wink of Stella to the blossoms which you can see better in the next image.

Thanks for visiting and taking time to read this somewhat lengthy post.  I've added links to both challenges above, so be sure to head over to both and enjoy all the beautiful inspiration!

Stef

Product details

Card #1

Stamps:  Flora Thanks

Paper:  Whisper White, Textured Tempting Turquoise, Strathmore Mixed Media

Ink:  Versamark Onyx Black; Tempting Turquoise;  Distress:  Twisted Citron, Peeled Paint, Seedless Preserves

Other:  Layering Circles Framelits, Thanks Die (Simon Says Stamp), Pretty Pink Posh Sequins, Blender pen

Card #2

Stamps:  Helping Me Grow, Small Phrases (Verve)

Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Watercolor

Ink:  Same as Card #1

Other:  Clear Wink of Stella, Pretty Pink Posh Sequins, Blender Pen, Ranger Blending Tool, Colourless Art Masking Fluid (Winsor & Newton), Misti