Floral Friend Card

Today is the deadline for entering Ellen Hutson's March Pin-Sights challenge. I know--nothing like procrastination, is there? ;) I created this card primarily for that challenge. The colors in the palette provided my main inspiration. I also used Sketch #SC673 from Splitcoaststampers.com as the basis for my design.

March Pin-Sights Challenge Inspiration Mood Board

I began with my floral die cuts. I applied gesso to 2 scraps of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper, and dried that with my heat tool, just to speed the process. I lightly marked where my dies would go, and then colored over those areas with iridescent gelatos from Faber-Castell. I did have to use a "regular" green gelato for the leaves, since I didn't have the right color in the iridescent set. After I applied each color, I blended it out with my finger. Having the basecoat of gesso really helps these blend like butter! Finally, I die cut my flowers & leaves with some of the Essentials by Ellen "Wild Garden" dies.

I die cut the greeting oval from white cardstock using a Lawn Fawn "Small Stitched Oval" die. Then I stamped the "friend" from Stampendous' "Happy Messages" set in Versamark ink. I felt the overall feel of that stamp went well with the funky look of my die cut floral elements. I heat embossed that with Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold embossing powder.

For the background, I cut a panel of purple cardstock to size, and a strip of yellow striped paper from a Me and My Big Ideas 12x12" paper pad that I got a long time ago. I stamped one of the "Wonky Backdrops" onto the purple panel in Versamark, and gold heat embossed that. I then adhered my striped paper to the bottom of a white card base, and mounted my purple panel above that.

I arranged my die cut pieces on my desk, using the greeting oval as a guide. When I felt they looked good, I picked up my oval, being very careful not to move the flowers & leaves. I applied ATG adhesive to the back of my oval, and pressed it down on my arrangement. The die cuts mostly stuck to the adhesive. The couple that didn't were easy to glue into place. I applied small amounts of liquid glue to the backs of my floral elements and the oval, and mounted it to my card.

I felt the upper right corner was a bit too empty, but I wasn't sure if I needed to put anything there. So I just left the card overnight. The next day, I came back, and decided it did need something. I used a piece of teal-striped washi tape, to pick up on the teal color in the one flower, as a base. I also cut a strip of gold glitter cardstock, to echo the gold in the greeting & background stamping. I adhered that in place over the washi tape. I threaded some pale lime-green baker's twine through a dark magenta button, and tied the twine in a bow. I applied a little Ranger Multi Medium Matte to the ends of the twine & the knot of the bow, just to keep everything tidy--and tied! Finally, I used a generous amount of Multi Medium to glue down my button. I left that overnight to dry, and this card is done!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Dies R Us Challenge #95: "Springtime"
Die Cut Divas: "Anything Goes"