Dandelion Wishes = get well.

Dandelions are one of the first flowers to appear in the spring - a bright splash of yellow against another wise colorless landscape.  Once finished blooming, the flower becomes a ball of fluff, each tuft of the fluff containing a seed for another plant.

I must admit I have a love/hate relationship with Dandelions.  I don't mind them along curbs, but not in my lawn please!

The dandelion In it's fluff state is actually very beautiful and paired against a colorful sky, makes a beautiful get well card

The Basic Black card stock base is layered with Whisper white card stock embossed at the left side with one of the Petal Pair Textured Impression  Folder (stems).

On a separate piece of Whisper White card stock, a center of area was taped off with masking tape, and using a brayer, the following colors were applied: Pineapple Punch, Mango Melody, Gorgeous Grape and Lovely Lipstick.

The single dandelion was embossed with black embossing powder on this colorful panel.

This panel I cut out, embossed the right end with the same embossing folder, matted it with Basic Black card stock and adhered it to the card front.

The sentiment, stamped with Black Memento, had some Dandelion fluff stamped around it before matting it with Basic black card stock and adhering it to the card front using dimensionals.  A gold metallic shape was added above the "wishes" and on the upper right card.

Supplies used

Stamp:  Dandelion Wishes

Inks:  Black Memento, Pineapple Punch, Mango Melody, Gorgeous Grape, Lovely Lipstick

Papers:  Basic Black, Whisper White

Accessories:  Black Embossing powder, Petal Pair Texture Impression Embossing Folder, Metallic Enamel Shapes, Dimensionals, Brayer

Sunset at the Cottage

I love sunsets - always have, and lately the sunsets have been so beautiful.

I've been making a lot of cards using Rooted in Nature suite, and today I combined the stamp set with two other stamp sets, Waterfront, and High Tide - to create a sunset scene at the cottage

I was a bit hesitant about the effectiveness of the sponge brayers, but I used them today (along with some of the new colors) to create this beautiful sunset and was pleasantly surprised.  So, using this tool, I applied the following colors for the sky:  Mango Melody, Poppy Parade and Highland Heather. I added some birds and clouds from High tide.

Coastal Cabana was used for the water, with the horizon  identified using a Coastal Cabana marker.  Details in the water was created by using the water stamp High Tide.

The two trees were stamped one at a  time and side by side using Mossy Meadow.  A stamp from Waterfront, stamped in Soft Suede,  was  to create the rocky knol upon which the trees were growing.

The focal image was trimmed, then matted with Basic Black card stock, adhered to a Whisper White layer which was added to the Basic Black card base

An Adirondack chair, die cut in Highland Heather cardstock, was adhered to the lower right card front to complete the cottage image.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Rooted In Nature, High Tide, Waterfront
Inks:  Mango Melody, Poppy Parade, Highland Heather, Coastal Cabana, Soft Suede, Mossy Meadow, Basic Gray, Coastal Cabana marker
Papers:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Highland Heather, dimensionals
Accessories:  Colorful Seasons framelits, Sponge Brayer

It's Almost Spring!!! Stampin Royalty #364

Yes, and the colour challenge with the Canadian Die Exchange Group certainly reflected that. I am also submitting this creation to the challenge with Stampin' Royalty, where the challenge is "your favorite technique".  And anyone who knows me knows that I like making flowers = paper flowers.

I've been in a flower making mood for some time now, so surprise, surprise, I made a flower for this challenge. My beloved clematis vine was moved during construction last summer and was replanted.  I do not know if it survived.

Because one of the clematis vines had a purple flower (I had another with pale mauve flowers) when I saw the colour scheme my mind immediately went these vines

I started by using the new sponge brayers to apply Soft Sky, Pool Party and Mint Macaron to a piece of "Inside the Lines" DSP and matted it with Mint Macaron, Garden Green and finally adhered it to a Perfect Plum card base.

The petals of the flower were die cut in Wisteria Wonder and sponged with Elegant Eggplant.  A marker of that colour was also used to apply a darker colour in the center and edge.  In addition, bleach was used to lighten the edges. Spritzing lightly with water allowed the colours to blend.

After the petals were dry, they were shaped and adhered to a green base with a hot glue gun.  The die cut stamens were snipped some more to make them really frilly and then they were coloured and spritzed as well.  After rolling them they were adhered to the flower center, fluffing them out when the glue was firmly set.

The edges of the leaves were sponged with Old Olive and then a stylus was used to make the veins of each leaf.  After shaping, each leaf was attached to the back of the flower or along the stem.

The bud was made by curling 3 petals very tightly and then wrapping a leaf around them. An extra petal  can be seen at the bottom of the card.  I love my vine flowers, but they sure make a mess when the flowers start to fall apart.

Before attaching the flower to the card base, I added a 1" strip of Perfect Plum with a Soft Sky satin ribbon wrapped around it. 

Some jewel embellishments completed the card.

Supplies Used:

Stamp: Good Greetings

Inks: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Markers - Elegant Eggplant, Soft Sky, Pool Party, Mint Macaron

Papers: Wisteria Wonder, Perfect Plum, Pear Pizzaz, Old Olive, Garden Green, Mint Macaron, Inside the Lines DSP

Accessories Sponge brayer, Sizzix clematis dies, hot glue gun, stylus and other flower forming tools, Dazzling details, jewel embellishments, linen thread, 1/2" satin Soft Sky ribbon.