Papertrey Ink Feburary 2016 Blog Hop Challenge

Today's card is for the Papertrey Ink February 2016 Blog Hop. We were provided this image for our inspiration. There are so many elements in this photo that it took some time for me to figure out which of those I wanted to use on my card. There are several rectangles & circles in this image as well as the more organic shapes of the flower, fern, leaves, ribbon, frog and other elements.  I wanted to find just the right balance of shapes and colors while still using the same color palette for my card. I love pink and gold together.  It is ultra elegant and ultra feminine in most cases.  

I started with a piece of Simon Says Stamp Cotton Candy 100# Card Stock and misted it all over with some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Iridescent Gold. Even though it seems like this company is no longer in business, I have several bottles of this around.  I set it aside to dry for a little while because damp card stock does not cut cleanly (don't ask me how I know, *wink*).  While I was waiting for that, I stamped my leaves from the Turning a New Leaf Stamp Set onto Wild Wasabi Card Stock and heat set them with Simon Says Stamp's new Ultra Fine Antique Gold Embossing Powder. I used the Turning a New Leaf coordinating dies to cut the leaves off-setting them slightly so some of the green would show. I really love this embossing powder and it is my new favorite embossing powder when I don't want to use the sparkle kind. The color is warm and rich.

I cut a tall rectangle from some gold foiled cardstock by cutting a narrow piece of gold cardstock scrap on three sides of the stitched rectangle die and then repositioning the paper so it would cut the line on that 4th side. If you match up the stitches, it's pretty easy to do and it helps stretch those dies even more.  I stamped and heat embossed the outline floral image from Altenew's Beautiful Day Stamp Set which is a multi-layer stamp set as well as my butterfly from SU!'s Papillion Potpourri stamp set. I also have the coordinating punch for that particular butterfly.  I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Light Pink with a water brush to watercolor the image and extended the painting slightly beyond the outline so that when I fussy cut it there wouldn't be any white showing.  I added more of that same pink to a scrap piece of watercolor paper, then heat embossed it with the "Hello" from Graceful Greetings by Papertrey Ink and die cut it with the coordinating dies.  Finally, I went back to that first piece of misted Cotton Candy Card Stock and cut it with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Die then started assembling all my pieces onto a white top folding 4 x 5.25 inch card base. 

I wanted to add foam adhesive to the back of the gold rectangle, the flower and parts of the leaves so that the layers would look multi dimensional.  The Greeting and the Butterfly were the final elements to attach using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  I have a ScraPerfect No Clog Writing Tip on my bottle and I've been much happier with this than with the other tip available for the 1/2 oz. bottles.  I wish they would make the Multi Medium in a 2 oz. bottle like they do for Glossy Accents.  I gently curve the wings of the butterfly before adhering it by putting my adhesive down the center of the butterfly's body.  This adds just a little bit more dimension to the card.  

Please feel free to post any questions or comments and have a great day!  You can check out the Challenge here: Capture the Moment or shop in the Papertrey Ink Store by clicking the link in the sidebar. 

I'll also be entering this card into the Anything Goes Challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog.