Avant Garden

Hello, Crafters.

This is my first play with the Sale-a-bration (SAB) Stamp Set called Avant Garden. 

Judging by the orders I see going through, I think this is going to be the most popular stamp set in the SAB Catalogue!
 
After using the Watercolour Pencils on the card featured in yesterday's paper piecing video, I wanted to play with them some more and decided this stamp set would be ideal!

I started my card with a base of Soft Sky Cardstock (CS), then a layer of Shimmery White CS and a top layer of Soft Sky CS. 

I started with the image and stamped it onto a piece of Shimmery White cardstock, using Basic Black Archival Ink. 

The Watercolour Pencils come in a set of 13 pencils of various Stampin' Up! colours including Whisper White (page 24 in the Spring catalogue). 

I chose Old Olive for the stem and leaves of the flower, and Bermuda Bay for the flower heads, which has developed into a lovely shade of blue that goes brilliantly with Soft Sky. 

I left space in the centre of three flowers so I could use Daffodil Delight. 

Using the largest oval die from the Stitched Shapes Framelits, I die cut the image but felt I had done the wrong thing because there was so much white space below the flower head down to the bottom of the oval!

I decided to fill this with my sentiment, which is also from Avant Garden.

I stamped it in Basic Black Archival Ink, onto a piece of Shimmery White CS and flagged the end. 

I decided not to layer the image or the sentiment but they both needed some definition, so I sponged the edges with Soft Sky Ink, which worked well. 

There are a lot of techniques in card making that I really like and creating my own background paper or CS, is certainly one of them! 

I started decorating my top layer using the splatter stamp from Avant Garden, tone on tone, all round the edge, but it didn't look anything special. 

I cleaned the stamp and repeated the process using Whisper White Ink. 

This improved it, slightly, but it still needed something more!

I looked at the stamp set again and saw the leaves - what a penny-dropping moment that was! 

I should have stamped some leaves on the stem to fill the white space! DOH!!

I decided to stick with my plan, and I used the leaves around the edge but stamped them in Bermuda Bay Ink, so that they stood out a bit.

My final touch was to paint the flower head and stem with Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Pen. I love the finished result!

Obviously, I need to re-visit this and add the leaves - watch this space!

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Products & Measurements

Soft Sky A4 Cardstock: 131292 - 8¼” x 5¾” (21cm x 14.5cm); 3 7/8” x 5½” (10cm x 14cm)

Shimmery White A4 Cardstock: 121717 – 2 pieces 4” x 5 5/8” (10.25cm x 14.25cm); 2½” x 3½” (6.4cm x 9cm); ¾” x 2½” (2cm x 6.4cm)

Basic Black Archival Ink: 140931; Refill: 140928

Soft Sky Ink Pad: 131181; Refill: 131161

Bermuda Bay Ink: 131171; Refill: 131156

Whisper White Craft Stampin' Ink: 101731; Refill: 101780

Watercolour Pencils: 141709

Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen: 141897

Avant Garden Photopolymer Stamp Set: 143272 (SAB Item)

Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies: 145372 – no. 4

Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen: 141897

Tombow Liquid Glue: 110755