More Flowers

Just a quick reminder of our September challenge at Stamping Sensations, where the theme is "Anything Goes With Flowers", sponsored by Bee Crafty. A £25 voucher to spend in their online store is the fab prize for this month's winner. All stamps and the stencil I've used on my card are by Bee Crafty.

I sponged the background with pigment inks, added more ink through the stencil, and then stamped the borders and sentiment. The flowers and leaves were stamped separately on watercolour card, coloured with brush pens and cut out. They were then adhered to the card, with some being raised on sticky pads to give a bit of extra dimension.

 We have some wonderful entries so far, and there's still plenty of time to enter, as the challenge runs until Wednesday 2nd October.

Easy Peasy With A Floral Touch

Well, we're into September now, about which I always have mixed feelings. Sad that the summer is coming to an end, happy that the autumn colours will soon be in evidence, and sad again because once the summer holidays are over it feels as though we're at the start of the slippery slope to winter and (sshhh!) Christmas! I'm one of those people who wish they could hibernate over the winter and wake up in spring, my favourite season. I hate the cold and the dull, gloomy days. But at least the long dark nights are the ideal excuse for more crafting!

But not quite yet, though. Hopefully there will still be a few fine days to come, and we've given you a nice easy challenge this month at Stamping Sensations, for which the theme is

* * * * * ANYTHING GOES WITH FLOWERS * * * * *

An easy topic, but please remember that our usual rules still apply. Your subject matter can be anything you choose, but your project must include flowers and the main element/focal point must be stamped or a hand coloured digi. For full details of the rules, please look on the challenge blog here.

We have a very welcome return visit from our fabulous sponsors Bee Crafty, who have generously donated a £25 voucher for our September winner. They have the most amazing and eclectic range of stamps, stencils and card making accessories, some of which I've used for my card.

I decided to use the "Daisy" set from the Beautanicals range. This set also includes the Serendipity sentiment, which turned out to be very appropriate! I made the background first by dotting drops of Distress Oxide inks (from reinkers) on to my glass mat, misting them with water and laying a piece of watercolour card on top to pick up the inks. The inks are very concentrated, so I blotted the card with a piece of kitchen roll to lighten the colours. The result of this was that the dotty embossed pattern on the kitchen roll transferred itself to the card, which I have to admit was quite unintentional and very serendipitous!

Having got this unexpected bonus, I didn't want to cover it all up. I used one of the discs from the Inkables "Texture Discs Set 2" to stencil a few areas with pink pigment ink,and stamped the daisy three times down one side, masking where necessary. I added a couple of butterflies (Birds & Butterflies Set 1) and coloured them and the daisies with Arteza coloured pencils. The sentiment completed the picture, or so I thought. However, I wasn't happy with it, it seemed a bit lifeless. This is how it looked at that stage.

I often find the hardest part of a project is determining, in the first instance, what you're going to make. The next hardest is knowing when to stop! I didn't want to introduce another element in case it spoilt it. After some pondering, I decided to define the flower centres with Nuvo Crystal Drops, and to bling up the butterflies' wings with a clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen (a bit hard to see in the photo). Still not sure if it made enough of a difference, but it is certainly better than it was before.

Anyway, I hope you like my serendipitous card! There is some gorgeous inspiration from my teamies over on the Challenge Blog, and I will look forward to seeing lots of lovely entries to keep these last few days of summer bright and happy!