Stampin with Anita: NC Demos August 2019 Blog Hop

Can you believe it is the end of August already? Where has the summer gone? Labor Day is fast approaching. Our host for the North Carolina Stampin' Up! Demos, Tracie Evans Langley, has issued this challenge for today's blog:

"For our August theme find a flower picture or two that you love and use it as your inspiration. It can be a picture from your own yard or garden, from a holiday trip, a painting, a piece of china or other decor piece. ANYTHING that features a flower, plant or tree.Your project can be anything! You can use flower or other nature stamps, but don't be limited. You can use your flower picture or pictures for color or layout inspiration."

Our yard has been spectacular this year and definitely inspiring! Here are a few pictures:

My husband built these planters out of recycled brick he salvaged. We have 6 planters with benches in between.

Close ups of amazing flowers this year!

I decided that my card had to have a floral design and some leaf design in the background.

To do this, I used one of the Tasteful Background Dies, cut it out of retired card stock and created my own stencil.

With Bermuda Bay ink pad and a Stampin' Sponge I ink blended a soft background onto a piece of Whisper White card stock. I ran this through the Big Shot with one of the Stitched Nested Labels Dies. Next I ran this same piece through my Big Shot with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder for a linen type look.

The focal image was stamped with Black Stazon Ink using the Believe You Can stamp set ($13.00 but only available with Stampin' Rewards as a host or an order of $150) onto Fluid 100 watercolor paper. I knew I would be coloring with Pigment Sprinkles and Stazon will not bleed. I did use my Stamparatus for the stamping because it generally takes several good tries to get a good image onto thick watercolor paper. The flowers came out rich and vibrant colors with the Pigment Sprinkles, just like my yard!

Since we have many butterflies in our garden, I wanted to add a couple to the card. The small butterflies are from the Butterfly Gala stamp set. They were stamped with Versamark Ink onto Fluid 100 paper, sprinkled with Black Shimmer Embossing Powder and heat set. Gives them a nice twinkle! They were also colored with Pigment Sprinkles and punched out with the Butterfly Duet Punch.

To finish, I used a Black Stamp 'n Write marker and re-outlined all the images. The stamped lines got a little lost with all the watercoloring.

The focal point image was then nestled into the negative space of the front panel and adhered with Tombow Liquid Adhesive. I kept the inside of the card blank, except for another small butterfly adhered in the corner. I often like to do that, so the card is more flexible for any occasion and can be finished when needed.

I hope you enjoyed my time among the flowers and here is the list of hoppers participating. Can't wait to see what they create!

Anita Trippi - You are here!
Patricia Todd
Toni Campana
Jo Anne Hewins
Tina Lesson
Frances Wagner
Tracie Evans Langley