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Wednesday 27 July 2016

Coneflower Birthday

Hi all.  I have another feminine birthday card to show you today.  I used a stamp from Serendipity Stamps called Coneflowers which in latin is the Echinacea of which there are many different colours including the yellow/orange I have used here.  It is interesting that the purple/pink variety is also a herbal remedy popular as a treatment for colds and also to help prevent them, so a pretty flower with a use.


I decided to get a bit more arty with this one and started with a snippet of white card just a little smaller than my white square card.  I decided to use some Distress Inks blended with blending foam over it before stamping the flower.   I tried to lay down the background colours keeping the area where I wanted to place the stamp a bit lighter, so used the Mustard Yellow lightly in those areas and then the Tumbled Glass all over the the rest darkening the corners a little, especially the top right hand one, with Stormy Sky, and then I added a little Adirondack Eggplant.  I decided to bleach some of the colour out by splashing some water on to it and then blotting it with a piece of kitchen towel.

I continued by stamping the image with Versafine Smokey Gray ink and coloured it with a waterbrush using the Mustard Yellow DI on the petals, and a bit of Spiced Marmalade for shading, and some Adirondack Eggplant on the centres of the flowers and the darker part of the butterfly, and some Peacock Feathers DI and a little of the Mustard Yellow DI round the edge.  The two leaves were coloured with Mowed Lawn DI.

To finish I stamped the sentiment with the Versafine Smokey Gray ink and whilst wet heat embossed it using WOW Clear Embossing Powder.  I also felt the water drops were a bit too prominent so I used some more of the blue and yellow inks over the top, especially darkening over and around the flower to make it stand out.

Before I go I would like to welcome three new followers,  Sally HHazel and Kathy K who are all wonderfully creative ladies and I'm sure they would love you to vist them if you haven't before.


Thank you for coming to look and for all your comments which I really appreciate.

Pat  x

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Serendipity Stamps Challenge - Just Add Water.   (I am so pleased I was chosen the winner of this challenge)
Uniko Challenge No 34 - Flowers.
The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge.
Artistic Stamper - All Things Bright and Beautiful.



21 comments:

Loll said...

Gorgeous card Pat. Your coneflowers are so pretty. Love the blended background with the water splats ... lots of visual texture. xx

Kath said...

A fabulous card - love your arty background and the beautiful flowers too.
Kath x

Jennie -The Artistic Stamper said...

Gorgeous! perfect for our theme. Thank you for joining in with The Artistic Stamper creative Challenge

My Card Attic: Hazel said...

LOVE the creative processes Pat! It has paid off beautifully. It looks like a work of art that belongs in a frame! Have a great day my 'night-owl' friend! ;) Hazel xx
My Card Attic

Sarn said...

Hi Pat . . . I LOVE cone flowers so this pretty card with the lovely inky background and water splats works for me!

Hugs, Sarn xxx

Unknown said...

Gorgeous card and great blending. I really must use my distress inks more x

Petra Swart said...

Simply stunning, Pat - a small work of art!!!! Love how you've done the sponging of the bg and the stamping of the flowers!!!! The flowers and the butterfly are so beautiful!!! Wonderfully done!!!
Have a great day!!!
Hugz

Marybeth said...

Hi Pat, this is such a beautiful card, your blending and splotches look amazing! Thanks for joining us in the Poppystamps Challenge!

Barb said...

Hi Pat, what a gorgeous card this is. The colours are beautiful and I like the bleached background. Barbxx

MaryH said...

The way you've done the pretty background certainly highlights the coloring in the lovely flowers. Love the water spotting too. The mustard yellow created such a nice glow behind these flowers! Glad to see you've got some new friends. I think I know each of these very talented ladies. TFS & Happy wkend. Hugs

Viv said...

Home for a few days so having a blogland catch up Pat! Really like this inky creation - and I need that stamp.... LOL x

Jeanne J. said...

Hi Pat! Great coloring! I love the glow around the flowers and how it fades into the darker background! A lovely affect you achieved here!

Heidi MyLittleStampingBlog said...

This is really beautiful! So much care went into it! I really think that bit of eggplant color sets off the flowers really well, and I love the glow behind them!

Mrs A. said...

I really like how you have created your back ground for your stamp. Not heard of Cone flowers before but gosh this one is beautifully water coloured. A super card. p.s. I like your bleached effect too. Hugs Mrs A.

Paper Creations by Shirley said...

Beautiful card. Echinacea is one of my favorite flowers. I had large masses of them when we had huge gardens. Take care xxx

Kathy said...

Exquisite card of coneflowers highlighte with a remarkable background.

Lindsey said...

Great dreamy soft background with the blending & soft water splashes x

Liz said...

Such a pretty card, Pat. Lovely design. xx

Sazzle Dazzle said...

Great to see you play along again Pat and WOW you certainly know how to make those blended BGs pop! This is another stunner and thanks for sharing with us at Uniko. Sarah

Cathy said...

Gorgeous background for these stunning flowers Pat, so pretty, Cathy x

Beverley said...

Beautiful stamp, colours and blending - WOW! Thanks so much for sharing and joining in on the Uniko Challenge. My apologies for commenting SO late too. Hugs Bev x