Floral Cards - Altenew Challenge

Today I am sharing a couple of cards that I made inspired by the Altenew February Challenge

Both my cards are inspired by the lovely bougainvillea flowers. For the first card I have tried to recreate the scene in the picture and for the second just used the flowers and their beautiful pink color.

Card 1

As I wanted to recreate the scene, I went thru my stash of Altenew stamps to find the stamp closest to the flowers. I chose the bud from the Peony Bouquet stamp set. To get a more solid look I took the solid stamp from the layering options and stamped the flowers randomly with Picked Raspberry &Worn Lipstick Distress Inks and also stamped small leaves from the same set in between the flowers to give the effect of leaves peeping thru the flowers. I also stamped few big leaves with Lucky Clover & Mowed Lawn Distress Inks. I added some shine using the Wink of Stella Glitter brush and fussy cut all of it and my foreground was ready.

For the background I wanted to create a cream wall. So I used Ranger's Texture Paste along with Tim Holtz's Tiles Layering stencil to give the textured look of a wall as can be seen in the picture. I blended some Antique Linen Distress Ink once the paste had dried. I adhered the fussy cut elements on top of this wall background. For the black gate in the picture I went with a black strip for the sentiment and gold heat embossed the sentiment.

To finish the card off, I tied silver thread around several times and mounted the whole set on a card base.

Card 2

For this card I stuck to the bud from the Peony Bouquet set but this time used the outline. I cut out a small piece of white watercolor paper and white heat embossed the buds along the corners. Painted them with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and a waterbrush for a watercolored effect. I stamped the sentiment also in the same color in the center of this piece.

I liked how Cracked Pistachio Distress ink was going with the flowers so I colored a small piece of cardstock with Pistachio Marker along the borders and mounted my flower panel at an angle on the now Pista cardstock.

For the background I stamped leaves from the Dahlia Blossoms stamp set again in Cracked Pistachio and watercolored it using the Marker of the same color. I added a few berries in between the leaves as well. I mounted the flower piece on this background again at an angle.

I wanted more of the pink so on the front panel of my card base I blended in some Picked Raspberry along the borders and mounted the background with the flower centerpiece at an angle. To finish of the card I added some Silver Pearls using Liquid Pearls around the sentiment and the four edges of the Pista Panel.

I really enjoyed making these cards as they are a little different from what I have been making earlier. Encourages me to try different media and layers to add lovely dimensions and create beautiful effects!

Wedding Gift Cards

Finding an appropriate gift for weddings is quite tedious for me. And even if I do find something nice I always feel the need of adding a personal element to the gift. Now that I am into card making I've found a nice little way for that little personal touch.

So today I am sharing 3 cards that I made keeping weddings in mind.

Card 1

This card was inspired by Altenew's January Inspiration challenge. The colors in the challenge came together to give a very auspicious feel to the card. I used the Dahlia Blossoms stamp set from Altenew to stamp out the flowers and leaves on the outer panel of white cardstock using Distress Inks & the Mini MISTI and used the layering feature available in this set - the outline with Vintage Photo and the layers with Fossilized Amber for the flowers and Peeled Paint for the leaves.

After this I cut out a rectangle from the center of the panel. I heat embossed the same leaves in the center of maroon cardstock. I then adhered the white stamped panel on the maroon cardstock using foam tape. I heat embossed the sentiment - from Magnolias for her stamp set by Altenew - on to a black strip and stuck that in the middle of the card. The whole set was then mounted on a white cardbase.

To add finishing touches I added some gold pearls using Ranger's Liquid Pearls and also added some gold to the flowers and leaves.

Challenges

• Altenew January 2017 Inspiration Challenge

• Paru's Card Making Challenges - Anything Goes - Congratulations for the 1st Anniversary! :)

Card 2

I wanted to create a very dainty wedding card - something with soft tones. I first created the stenciled background using Distress inks - Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Peacock Feathers. Sprayed some water on the background to soften the look.

I then stamped a couple of Magnolias from the Magnolias for her stamp set by Altenew using Picked Raspberry and lightly watercolored it with the same ink. I fussy cut the flowers and mounted the background and the flowers on a card base. I stamped the sentiment - from Mudra Stamps - in Picked Raspberry at the base of the card. I then rounded off the edges of the card.

To add a little sparkle I finished off the card with some sequins.

Challenges

• Paru's Card Making Challenge - Anything Goes

• Happy Little Stampers Jan CAS Challenge - Stencil

• Fusion Card Challenge - Congratulations for the 3rd Anniversary :) Card is inspired by only the sketch.

Card 3

I made the final card for the Mudra January Challenge - Heat Embossing. I first created a background by blending distress inks - Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon and Broken China. I sprayed water on it to create a distressed look and to get some watermarks.

For the heat embossing I used the leaf stamps from the Leafy Stamp set by Mudra. I stamped the leaves at the right bottom corner and heat embossed using Rangers White Embossing powder. I loved how the white leaves were looking against the distressed background. The sentiment is also from Mudra stamps. 

For the finishing touches I splattered some white paint all around the background and adhered some sequins for the sparkle. I also loved how the black strip of sentiment was standing out against the background so as an afterthought I added a thin strip of black cardstock on the right of the card. That finished the card for me. 

Challenges

• Mudra Craft Stamps Challenge # 5 - Heat Embossing

Blooming Peonies Card

Today I am sharing another card I made for the Altenew Challenge using the Altenew Peony Bouquet stamp set.

Similar to the previous card I made (Eternal Love), I stamped a few flowers and leaves from the Peony Bouquet set in an arrangement I liked onto some watercolor paper. I used the Versamark Watermark Stamp pad and then heat embossed it with Ranger Gold embossing powder. I used the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens to color the stamped images. I also used a waterbrush to blend the colors to give that watercolored look. I did a light blue wash for the background again using the Zig,

I took the sentiment from the Altenew Blooming Dahlias stamp set and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder as well. At this point I was wondering what next. Then I saw the small berries like set in the Peony stamp set and decided to stamp it on the upper area which was empty multiple times - again in gold and colored it in with some Pink and Green Zig.

I trimmed the panel a bit and adhered it onto an ivory card base. To have a bit more of the green I drew a stitched pattern around the watercolor panel with the Green Zig.

I liked how it had turned out and I left it at that. The card was done :)

Supplies

• Altenew Peony Bouquet and Blooming Dahlias stamp set
• Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens
• Brustro Watercolor paper
• Mini MISTI tool
• Versamark Watermark pad
• Ranger Gold Embossing Powder
• Ivory Cardstock

Entering this card for the ongoing Altenew -  A  Year in Review Inspiration Challenge. 

This card is based on the March 2016 challenge. Inspired by the colors.

Card - Eternal Love

I'm here to share a card I made over the weekend. I did not start off with any theme in my mind but it ended up as one trying to portray eternal love as I went along.

The effect I have tried to create is that of some lovely magnolias floating in a magical pool with lots of shimmery lights rising from the pool - celebrating the magical nature of long lasting love.

To create this card I started off by stamping three flowers from the 'Magnolias for Her' Stamp set from Altenew - one of my favorites from their collection. I stamped it on a Watercolor paper from Brustro and used a Mini MISTI stamping tool to get more accuracy. I added some color to these flowers using the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens. It was a lot of fun to see the way the colors blended to bring out some very pretty shading work. For the background to create the feel of flowers floating in the pool I used the Blue Zig Brush Pen around the flowers and also brought in some Light Green to try and create some leaves in the background (not being the focus).

For the sentiment, I combined a few stamps from different brands - One from Mudra and another from Inkadinkado. I inked them with Black Soot Archival ink from the Distress Mixed Media Ink Palette.

I was going to leave it at this when I thought I could try to create a Bokeh effect with some sequins to look as though the pool was emitting some lights. So I placed some sequins around the card. Though I could not capture the effect in the picture well, it does give that look when the sequins catch the light to give out the shimmery lights effect in actual.

After that I mounted the panel onto a pale yellow card stock and that onto an ivory card base.

In the pic above I have tried to take the picture at an angle where some of the sequins are shining when they catch the light.

Supplies

• Alternew Magnolias for her stamp set
• Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens - set of 12
• Brustro Watercolor paper
• Mini MISTI stamping tool
• Distress Mixed Media Ink Palette
• Pale Yellow and Ivory card stock

I'm entering this card for the Altenew -  A Year in Review Inspiration Challenge - 

This is a challenge where we can select from any of the past inspiration challenges this year. The challenges and the lovely cards that were on display all through the year have been a wonderful inspiration to get into card making! 

The card I made is based on the JULY 2016 challenge.