PTI February Blog Hop!

Hi friends! Happy Saturday. Today is February 25, which also means that it's PTI blog hop day! The inspiration photo this month is absolutely incredible...

 

Seriously, wowzers. Those deep, rich fuchsia, saffron, charcoal, and plums are just stunning, and they definitely got the creative juices flowing. I have other things I should have been working on, but I couldn't resist playing along...

To start, I used the beautiful Fresh Bouquet stamp and die set. (To think I somehow thought that I didn't need that one... Crazy talk, I tell you! #givemealltheflowers) To bring out those beautiful bronze embellishments in the inspiration photo, I die cut and heat embossed the floral spray twice on watercolor paper using Bronze embossing powder from Hero Arts. I watercolored the pretty flowers and berries using my Zig markers (though I think this could just as easily be done with the solid stamps included in the stamp set!). I am nit-picky enough that I felt the need to color even the outer edges with my charcoal Zig marker so as not to get that unwanted pop of white. There isn't any white in the inspiration photo, so I didn't want any white on my card. 

Now, I have a confession to make. I made the mistake of stamping, embossing, and watercoloring these pretty flowers before I die cut them. Then I die cut them and, while the die is mostly open, there is a large section that is solid metal, thus making it very difficult (nigh impossible) to get the die positioned perfectly over the image. I won't give you exact details as to my reaction when I pulled the die off not one, but BOTH of the die cuts, but suffice to say sailors might have blushed had they been in my craft room. Did I mention this was at 11:30 last night? So... I started all over again. BUT! Silver linings... I get to tell you to die cut FIRST with this particular set. And, I was able to take a comparison photo to show you what a difference adding that charcoal coloring around the edge of the die cuts, rather than just leaving them white. It really makes the card feel totally different without those white lines. My husband told me I was crazy for staying up til 1:30 am redoing them... but for the sake of art, one might lose a little sleep. I honestly like the coloring better on my original sprays, so I might try coloring charcoal around the edges to see if the incorrect die cuts will still work, but c'est la vie. 

After my stamping and die cutting fiasco, I decided to die cut some simple foliage using the Garden Garland die and some pretty bronze metallic card stock I found at my local Joann's. Just the exact right color to match the bronze EP. I added my foliage to my watercolored sprays, popped them up on the Smokey Shadow card base, then turned to the sentiment. I die cut the Thanks from Graceful Greetings using Smokey Shadow card stock, then heat embossed the coordinating sentiment using the same Bronze embossing powder.

I'm really loving how this turned out. The springy temperatures have been bringing out my inner CAS gal, using lots of white space and clean lines, but it got cold yesterday, so these rich, deep colors really just got the juices flowing. Thanks for a marvelous inspiration photo, PTI! I hope everyone is enjoying the photo as much as I am. I can't wait to see what beauties are waiting in the link-up! Have a wonderful weekend, friends!