Blossom Branch Best Wishes

I needed a couple of cards to send out..one to the winner of my recent giveaway Liz, and another to go with a smaller set of papers and toppers which I found I had just sitting unused and which I have sent to Kath, the only other lady who was interested in the giveaway, and having shown her a photo of the set she said she would like this so everyone's a winner, and it makes me feel better to think that someone is getting some use out of things that I know will just sit here for far too long, get spoiled and then be unusable.  I know I would probably have had more interest if I had not restricted it to the UK, but if I do have another in the not too distant future, and there is that possibility, I will include all overseas followers and commenters too.  I used a freebie digi colouring page with these pretty blossoms and made a different version for each lady.

The first I coloured in tones of blue watercoloured with a set which I acquired whilst on holiday..another by Koh-I-Noor.  They are great for taking out comprising of four layers which each have six colours so twenty four in all, and they just unscrew to open out which makes them very portable.  This was the first time I have used them and I used 160gsm white paper which took the water reasonably well, buckling just a little.  I finished the colouring with some Polycolour Pencil over the top to deepen the shading which worked well.  These pencils are also by Koh-I-Noor and I have used them on several projects recently.  I finished this first card by die cutting with a square stitched die and stamped a sentiment using Versafine Majestic Blue ink before adding it to a 6" square card.

I am entering the following challenges with the above card:

Craft Rocket Challenge - No. 95 Flowers.
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday August Challenge - Anything Goes.
Creative Inspirations August Challenge - Anything Goes.

 

I decided on this second card to just use the pencils and coloured with tones of yellow, orange and red, and I used a couple of greens and brown and black.  I decided to use a Scalloped Stitched die by Poppy Stamps to frame this one but it didn't cut out well at all as I think I made the mistake of not backing it onto another piece of card to strengthen it before die cutting.  I tried sticking it down using wet glue and it was a disaster as it stretched and the three pieces comprising the centre and a double stitched inner frame followed by the outer scalloped frame would not match up as in cutting this frame I also had to cut into the coloured portion of the design and so it was crucial to get it to match up properly.  I ended up cutting another frame and placed the new pieces over the top cutting the scalloped edge back which made it easier as no matching of the scalloped edge required...I did use double sided tape this time and although I lost some of the flowers, more so at the top, it works OK.  I absolutely hate giving up on something and I was so pleased with the colouring I didn't want to start again.  I finished this one with the same sentiment as above but using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink, and this time I placed it onto a 7" x 5" card.

 Thank you for joining me here today and I'll see you again soon.