Muse Challenge #201

Hello there!  I'm glad you are here.  Today's card is one made for the Muse Challenge #201.  Valentyna is the Muse for this week and she created the card on the left.

For several weeks, I have been making Valentines for my friends and family and before that it was Christmas Cards.  This week we are supposed to have temps in the high 70's and I am ready to work with some beautiful flowers.  So for my card, I pulled out a favorite from Clearly Besotted called Beautiful Friend. I love this image of a branch from an Apple Tree and I used Valentyna's colors as my inspiration.

I started with a panel of 4.25 x 5.5 Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper and did some ink blending on it with a combination of Pale Peony and Lovely Lady Inks. Then I misted it with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist and set that part aside to dry.
Next I stamped the blooming branch in Versamark on another piece of Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper and heat set it with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I cut a banner from Tag Sale: Quilted and stamped the birthday greeting from Boutique Borders: Birthday Stamp Set, again in Versamark and heat set it then laid it aside.

Using Distress Markers, I watercolored the blooms in Worn Lipstick, the leaves in Mowed Lawn and the branch in Gathered Twigs.  Once everything was dry, I die cut the background panel with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle, and used the coordinating die for the flowering branch.  Using a card base made from Stamper's Select White, I adhered the background panel using my ATG dispenser.  For the banner and the branch, I used Thin 3D Foam Squares.  I had a few small hearts leftover from my Valentine's Day projects, so I put one of them on the left side of the banner which completed my Clean and Simple card.

I watercolored additional images of this branch as I made a card for a niece and I'm making several cards for one of my sisters-in-law this week so they'll be ready to go if I want to use them again.  I always try to make multiples so that I have extras for pulling together a quick card.  I leave them uncut until I decide on my design, keeping them in the Stamp Pocket with the stamp set.  It makes for a fast card if I need one in a hurry.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Be sure to check out the Muse Challenge Blog to get all the details on this challenge and to see the beautiful entries.