Graceful Garden Thinking of You

 Hello, Crafters.

My Hubby deserves a medal! 

He spent FIVE hours traipsing round the shops with me yesterday, so I could treat myself to some new clothes for Thailand! 

Ocasonally, he sat on a bench outside the shop enjoying the sunshine and watching the world go by, but no complaints!

By way of letting him know that I was appreciating what he was doing for me, I treated him to a Japanese curry for lunch! 
 
A bit hot for me, but just about still in my tolerance level!

In the afternoon we had tea and cakes; well, he had a big slice of apple pie!

Today's card is another one using the beautiful rose from the Grateful Garden Stamp Set. 

It's a fabulous rose to colour and so easy to include shading if you use Marker Pens.

I used Sweet Sugarplum for the rose and Emerald Envy for the stem and leaves.

After painting over the entire rose using the Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Pen, I fussy cut the rose, stem and leave. 

I started my card with a base of Sweet Sugarplum Cardstock (CS), then a layer of Basic Black CS, with a top layer of Shimmery White CS.

I dry embossed the top layer using our stunning Ruffled Dynamic Embossing Folder, and then adhered all layers together using Tombow.

I used Dimensionals to attach the rose to the card. 

The sentiment is from the Climbing Orchid Stamp Set and has been stamped on Shimmery White Cardstock using Archival Basic Black Ink. 
 
I layered this onto a piece of Basic Black CS, and then onto a piece of Sweet Sugarplum CS.

I attached the sentiment to the card front using Dimensionals.

I tied a bow using the Basic Black Shimmer ribbon and adhere it across the stem of the rose.

To finish the card, I adhered a layer of Basic Black CS, and a top layer of Shimmery White CS. 
 
On the top sheet, I stamped the small rose from the Graceful Garden Stamp Set, and coloured it using Sweet Sugarplum and Emerald Envy Marker Pens. 

I used the Crushed Curry Marker Pen to colour the centre of the flower. 
 
My final touch was to paint with Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Pen.

That's it for today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Graceful Gardens "Inches"

Hello, Crafters.

It looks like our heatwave is about to break! Well, it was lovely while it lasted! 

Do you remember when "inches" were the in-thing with cardmaking a few years ago? 

There was a mini-revival a couple of years ago, but unfortunately it didn't mount to much. 

Today's card is my take on an inches card except I haven't adhered my image to small cardboard tiles. 

I chose the large rose from the Graceful Garden Stamp Set, which I stamped onto a piece of Whisper White Cardstock (CS) using Basic Black Archival Ink. 

Then I used Powder Pink and Pear Pizzazz Marker Pens, and coloured the image. 

I also stamped the image onto a large Post It Note, and then cut it out so I could use it as a mask. 

I covered my painted rose, and then I stamped the patterned imake from the same set in the bottom right hand corner using Sahara Sand Ink.

In the top left-hand corner, I stamped the splatter stamp from the Touches of Texture Stamp Set. 

I cut my image sheet down to 3 3/8" x 4 1/2". This enabled me to cut the image into twelve 1 1/8" squares.

Then I layered them onto twelve 1 1/4" Pink Powder CS squares. 

Fortunately, I have a retired Stampin' Up! 1 1/4" square punch, so that was very quick and easy!

Once my twelve squares were ready and I started working on a layout, it was very obvious that our normal A6 (A2) card size was not going to be big enough. 

I made a Whisper White CS card base that measures 7" x 5". 

I added a layer of Powder Pink CS, and then a top layer of Whisper White CS. 

As I made my layers, I kept watching to make sure everything looked balanced. 

Unfortunately, I was left with a relatively small space for the sentiment. 

Given the size of the image, I needed somethng with a bit of body! 

I decided on the ribbon and thought I'd stamp a sentiment on a piece of Whisper White CS that I could adhere over the ribbon.

Then I remembered something I'd seen on a swap I received, I think, at the OnStage Concention in Telford last year.

The demo had stamped a sentiment onto a strip of ribbon! 

I haven't tried before this but it worked beautifully. 

The sentiment is from the Birthday Blossoms Stamp Set. 

Have you tried this technique? Do you know if there are any do's or dont's i.e. does it matter what type of ink is used or the type of ribbon used? 

I think this needs to be a video, hopefully next Wednesday!

The strip of ribbon on its own wasn't substantional enough so I layered it onto a piece of Whisper White CS, which was layered onto a piece of Powder Pink CS.

I added three pearls either side of the the sentiment. 

To finish my card, inside the card I added a sheet of Powder Pink CS and then a top layer of Whisper White CS. 

I stamped the smaller rose from the Graceful Garden Stamp Set in the bottom right hand side. 

I coloured it in the same way as the main image on the front page.

That's about it for today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.