May 2017 Papertrey Create Along With Us

Hello there!  It's time for the Papertrey Ink Create Along With Us Monthly Feature. The idea is to be inspired by one of the projects we've seen during the May 2017 Release Announcement activities. The release is now available in the Papertrey Store.  I was inspired to create a card based on Nichole's project seen here on the left. This is created with a new Stamp and Die Set called "Especially You" that's been designed by Nichole as well.   The flower in this set is quite large as you can see and it reminds me very much of one that Nichole designed previously call Botanical Blocks II. That one is a smaller scale, but I've used it quite a lot so it will be nice to have a similar look in a larger size.

Besides the floral images, there are also a number of greetings and sentiments included in the set.

For my card, I used similar colors to Nichole's with some pinks and greens.  I also added a touch of pale blue for the "Sky".  I started by heat embossing the Botanical Block onto Watercolor Paper and heat setting it with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder. I water colored the bloom using a Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker in Light Pink but for the leaves, I used a May Green Marker without any added water. For the sky, I used Light Blue and mixed it with a bit of water.

The Postage Stamp style frame is cut from Gold Foiled Cardstock. You can see a bit of the gold in the reflection but it looks black or dark brown in the photo.

I also made a second card painted in the same way but with some colored cardstock which I don't do very often.  I like the clean look of White on White but I wanted something that was a bit of a different look to send to a friend who loves color!

The bloom looks a little bit washed out with my lights but it isn't in real life.  I used the Noted Scalloped A2 Vertical Dies to create the Lovely Lady card base and the New Leaf  Mat. This card making journey seems to be ever-changing for me. There's always new techniques, mediums, products etc. for me to try.  Heat Embossing with Watercolor remains my favorites.  Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be sure to go over to Nichole Heady's Blog to see all of the products that were released yesterday.