Another Card for the Penny Black Nature Challenge

Ok, I admit I have been very slack at updating my blog posts in recent times, but I have been inspired by the talented ladies in the Penny Black Flickr Group (Penny Circle http://www.flickr.com/groups/pennyblackinc/) and I am attempting to keep this blog a little bit more current.... So here's another card which I created for the Penny Black Nature Card Challenge (which was on the Penny Black Blog on Aug 8, 2011 http://pennyblackinc.wordpress.com/).



Stamps Used:
Penny Black 4160K cheerful
7 gypsies library stamp - events

Other Supplies Used:
Distress inks - various colours
Versafine onyx black
Ink blending tool
Stickles - various colours
Glossy accents
White gel pen

Following on from my previous card where I used distress inks to create the backgrounds for my cards, I was wanting to experiment to see if I could use them to colour my image. I had read somewhere that you could "watercolour" your image using distress inkpads so I started by stamping the flower stamp (PB 4160K cheerful) on white cardstock with the versafine black, then picking up some colour from my distress inkpads with a waterbrush and painting them onto the stamped image. I wasn't satisfied with the colours - the water from the waterbrush pen diluted the ink too much and the colours looked "washed out". I decided to use the ink blending tool instead to sponge colour onto the flower image. With a newly stamped flower image, I started by sponging on the lightest colour first (eg. tumbled glass for the blue flower), then adding darker accents (broken chine & stormy sky) to the centre and edges of the flower. I made a total of 5 flowers in different colours, and chose the best 3 for the card and cut out them out. At this point, although I was quite happy with the colours, the flower seem to lack dimension... so, seeking inspiration, I flipped open the Penny Black Touch of Whimsy Catalog 2011 and had a look at some of the cards in it. The flower on the back cover caught my eye, the designer Kathy Racoosin (http://thedailymarker.blogspot.com/) had added white highlights to her flower to give it dimension. I thought it looked amazing and decided to borrow her idea. On top of that, I added some coloured stickles glitter glue to my flower centres & petals, and when that dried, added some glossy accents over the top for the flower centres. I also stamped a whole bunch of the leaves, sponged on some green distress inks and cut out. I attached the leaves to the card with double-sided tape, then attached the flowers on with foam tape. I stamped the "thinking of you" from the 7 gypsies library stamp, punched it out and attached it to the card to finish.


Here is a close up of the flowers I did.