A card for a special friend

I recently needed to make a birthday card for my special crafty friend Lesley. You know how it is when you want to make a special card for a talented crafter, the pressure is on and it took me four attempts before I got a design I was really happy with. This was the result.

My card started making a wrinkle free distress background using Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Shaded Lilac and Evergreen Bough inks. When I had made it I wanted more texture in my background so I flicked lots of water over it with a paintbrush which gave me some nice blotches which I felt fitted with my hollyhock design well. My main stamp is a Unity Stamp Hollyhock Design by Donna Downey - this is a whoppa of a stamp at 8 inches high and I had to use my quilters square as a mount. The stamp is quite elusive in the UK and I managed to get hold of it through a special order. I stamped in Blue Violet archival ink.

I knew I wanted to add the sentiment on a torn vellum strip. The sentiment from the Darkroom Door Friendship Flowers set is stamped in Cobalt Blue archival ink. Once the strip was stuck into place, I added Hollyhock die cuts using an Impression Obsession die (which also has a matching stamp which I nearly also used) cut out of a wedgewood blue card highlighting the blooms with blue and purple Pan Pastels, added with a small sponge applicator.

To finish, I die cut small butterflies using the Tim Holtz Butterfly Frenzy strip die, I embossed these, placing them carefully into an embossing folder to pick out the best parts of the pattern which I then highlighted in Lilac Treasure Gold. Small brad like stickers completed the design which was mounted on a black 8 x 8 card.

Thanks to my faffing about, I am embarrassed to say my card was over a week late arriving with Lesley. At least it has now arrived and I have a clearer conscience!

The other news is that Lesley has posted the first project on our relaunched shared Craft Stamping Quartet blog here today. Do pop over and have a look at her brilliant project.

Have a great, sunny and warm weekend.

Elaine x