Graceful Garden Trio Of Projects

I haven’t played along with What Will You Stamp in a couple of weeks.  This challenge focuses on a specific Stampin’ Up! stamp set each week and I don’t always have the stamp set that they select for the week, but this week I do!

They are focusing on Graceful Garden so I created 3 projects to share.  I wanted to play with my Stampin’ Blends a little more and this set gave me the perfect opportunity!

 

I’ve been focusing on various inks and inking techniques for the last couple of months.  Alcohol markers are a fun inking technique to play around with.

If you haven’t tried Stampin’ Up!’s Stampin’ Blends, you have to give them a try!  You can purchase them in my online store at mystampingstore.com.

I recommend selecting two pairs of colors…the Old Olive set and any other color you would like to color flowers in with, plus the color lifter.  Big florals are the best images to try these makers with.  Each color has a dark and a light marker so you can blend them.  If you like them, you can add to your collection as your budget allows.

Check out each of my projects:

 

This was my first project.  I stamped the image in Memento ink (you need to use a permanent ink for your image to color in with the Alcohol markers.  Regular dye based ink pads with smear and run with the alcohol markers.)

I used the Pink Pirouettes and the Cherry Cobblers for the flower and the Old Olive for the leaves.

You can see that I trimmed the card stock down to a size smaller than my image and cut around the leaf and stem, allowing them to hang off the edge.  I popped the white up on foam tape to give it dimension and used a piece of the Petal Garden Designer Paper along the edge and added the white with the image along the right side of the card.  I added some thin gold metallic ribbon along the edge to cover the edge.  I did this only because my cutting blade needs to be changed and the edge was a little raggedy.

The sentiment is heat embossed in white on black card stock.  Of course, I added some glitter enamel dots.  These came in the mail on Saturday from Your Next Stamp.  I wanted to try their clear enamel dots that look like water drops, but I couldn’t resist the sparkle!

I’m adding this card to the What Will You Stamp Challenge #151.

My second project…

 

I wanted to try the smaller image and cut it out, plus I love that background image.  What a great background image!  I stamped it in the soft smokey slate color.  The center of the little flower uses the light daffodil delight Stampin’ Blends along with the crumb cake.

I did fussy cut around the flower and the stem of leaves.  Not my favorite thing to do, but it allowed me to pop these up on dimensionals to draw even more attention to them as the focal point of my card.

This is a nice clean and simple card design and it allowed me to use more stamps in the set!  I decided to use this card to participate in the Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge for January.  It’s a friendship challenge and since this is going to be sent to a friend, that seems perfect!

 

Final Project

For my final project, I wanted to try the yellows with a little splash of Calypso Coral.  I liked the rose, but did not love the final project…the sponging was too much.  If only I hadn’t sponged it.  That technique can go from okay to ARGH! in a flash!

 

Another relaxing day in the craft studio.  I will confess that I did no unpacking or organizing today.  Back to work tomorrow!

 

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Happy crafting and remember to embrace the imperfections!