Neon is not my forte...

So, for the last year or two, neon has been HUGE. I'll make a confession.... I hate neon. Like, I hate it. If you've seen my work for any amount of time at all, you'll know I truck primarily in pastels and jewel tones (usually not together). So when the early 90's started making a return into the fashion (and thus, the cardmaking) world, I was less than thrilled. BUT this project may have changed that bad 'tude I once maintained. This card definitely did not come out as I originally intended, but I'm kind of okay with that.

To start, I heat embossed a bunch of images from the Avery Elle Floral Frame stamp set using Satin Pearl embossing powder on watercolor paper, then running them through my Big Shot (my Vagabond died, but a new one is on its way to me... yay!) with the coordinating dies. When my mojo is lying low, and I can't come up with a real "project," this is one of my go-to solutions: stamp/heat emboss a bunch of images and pull out the Zigs. I chose this color scheme based on a party invitation we received for our friends' daughter's birthday party, but it came out so much brighter and more neon-ish than I initially intended. (That invite has given me quite a bit of inspiration!)

After using my Zig markers to watercolor the florals, I started on my card base. I used a Summer Sunrise top-folding card base and arranged my floral wreath on it. It needed something, so I pulled out my blending sponges, Summer Sunrise, and Orange Zest inks and began blending around the edges, concentrating the deepest orange color around the very edge. After popping up my floral frame with dimensional adhesive, I used my new Twice the Thanks dies from My Favorite Things to die cut some white card stock. To create the pretty ombre, I used my new Cactus Flower Archival Ink to do some blending. I was surprised and pleased by how well the Archival Ink blended! 

The last step was to add some Glossy Accents to the centers of the flowers. I feel a little odd leaving sequins off, but I don't think this card needs them, do you?

Anyway, that's all for me today! I hope you enjoyed my foray into the world of neon!