Fusion Card Challenge

We have a fun inspiration image to work with this session over at the Fusion Card Challenge.  Most of the time I am far more inspired by the photograph than I am by the sketch and much more so this week although I did a pretty good job of combining the two.  I just love this cascading bouquet coming out of the classic pick up truck and I wanted to try to portray that feeling in my card.

To accomplish this, I used Papertrey Ink's Fresh Bouquet Stamp Set and Fresh Bouquet Coordinating Die.  I cut several of the bouquets from Stamper's Select White Cardstock and heat embossed the outline image using some Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I do this using by using the negative as a placeholder in my Mini MISTI.  Then I did all the stamping using my Brilliance Pigment Inks in Pearlescent Orchid, Pearlescent Purple, Pearlescent Thyme and Pearlescent Coral. I have most of these colors in the little dew drop sized ink pads although there are a few colors that don't come in the smaller size yet, like the Coral.  One of the really nice things about pigment inks is that one stamping is typically enough ink for a very good, even coverage.  But because I used the MISTI, I can fix it if I didn't get it the first time.

Just like in the photograph, I wanted the focus to be on the bouquet, so I used the pearly inks there rather than adding the shimmer to some other part of the card. I really liked the somewhat sedate color of the pick up and the bright pop of color against it, so again, I tried to mimic that in my card by using a background panel of Ocean Tides Cardstock.  The striped print of the center panel is a piece of cardstock from the Make It Market Don't Forget to Write Kit.

The sentiment is from Altenew's Beautiful Day and is one of my favorites.  You can use it for a special day such as a wedding day or just to wish someone a nice day for no special reason at all. Those are my favorites to send out.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a great week!  I'll be back soon with another card for you.

Papertrey Ink March 2017 Blog Hop

Hello!  It's time for the Monthly Blog Hop at Papertrey Ink for March 2017. Nichole always finds really remarkable inspiration for us and this month is no exception. 

These gorgeous prints were created by Victoria Johnson. I love how Victoria used backgrounds other than white for her prints.

I wanted to capture the same feel of the colors in the card I created so I started by making a Noted: Vertical Scalloped A2 Card base from Tropical Teal Cardstock.  I also cut a rectangle and scalloped edge smaller piece using the same Noted: Vertical Die Set out of Deep Indigo and Stamper's Select White Cardstock.

Using Fresh Bouquet Stamps and the coordinating die, I cut several of these in Deep Indigo and Stamper's select white as well.  I wanted to try something new but I wasn't sure how it would work out so I didn't want to have to stop and cut more if things weren't working out too well. I had a ton of what I would call failures. The biggest thing I tried was to do each of the flowers in a different embossing powder and still another color for the leaves.  This did not work out for me at all and I'm not sure how I could make it work.  The biggest thing I noticed was that it was hard not to get the heat on some of the already melted embossing powder and scorching it.  I recently got a Wagner 650 degree heat tool but a lot of the time, I think it is just too hot.  I'm still adjusting to how much hotter it gets than my old one.  In the end, I got out my supply of Twinkling H2O's and used Forest Green, Black Cherry, Sky Blue and Bougainvillia to paint them in over the heat embossed gold outlines on the Deep Indigo Cardstock.  It was fast, easy and makes the same kind of impact I was going for with the heat embossing.

I'm sure there will be lots of fantastic cards and projects over at the Papertrey Blog so enjoy hopping along to see all the projects!

Inspired By All The Little Things #38

Inspired By All the Little Things is starting the new year with a beautiful challenge inspiration photo. Isn't this just the most elegant setting?  It uses Pink and Mauve with Metallic Gold so you know that I love this look. Roses are always a classic look although I didn't use them today. You all might get sick of seeing me use this set!

I love the color of the drapes on the chairs so that was my starting point for today's card. I also love the sheer elegance of the entire image. I've been playing for the last few days with a gorgeous new stamp and die from Papertrey Ink called Fresh Bouquet with the Fresh Bouquet Die.  I am so enamored with this set.  As a girl who loves to heat emboss, this set is right up my ally.  The entire outline can be stamped with Versamark and heat embossed all at once (no masking required) and then you can stamp the individual layers in the various colors. You could also stamp the outline in the color of your choosing (such as Black), it's just that I really love gold heat embossing! That is what I did here using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder on Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  Next I stamped the floral layers with Papertrey Ink Lavender Moon, Altenew Puffy Heart and Purple Wine Inks. I used Altenew's Forest Glades for the greenery.  I'm still trying to familiarize myself with the Altenew Inks and the colors vs. the names. I have the stuff to make a swatch book, I just haven't done it yet.  I'm thinking that might need to happen sooner rather than later.

I cut the card base from Lavender Moon Cardstock using the Noted: Scalloped A2 Vertical Dies. While the name would make you think this is a shade of lavender, it actually works better with most blue based pinks like Lovely Lady, Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, etc. Autumn Rose looks particularly nice!  I haven't mentioned it for a while but Papertrey Cardstocks are heavyweight, 110# super smooth cardstock. The quality simply can't be beat and the price is also fantastic. Colored cardstock is $5.00 for 24 sheets.  Stamper's Select White Cardstock is $6.00 for 40 sheets.

I wanted to make several of these cards to send to some of my girlfriends.  I don't live near any of my long time girlfriends and it is often hard to stay connected with so many miles and activities between us.  Everyone is busy with their own families and we just kind of drift away from each other. Sending cards is a great way to stay connected to them and remind them that I'm only a phone call away.

On this particular card (although I made several) I used foam tape on the white background panel and the floral bouquet. I adhered the sentiment and the little hearts directly to the background panel using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

If you get a chance, be sure to stop by the Inspired By All the Little Things Blog to check out all of the Design Team's Projects. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. If you'd like to leave a comment, I really enjoy reading them. Have a great weekend, everyone!