Thank You Love – Two Cards From One Inspiration

Hey friends!

Wow it’s been a hot one today, even for this country so it’s been quite a shock to the system and everything seems to be moving at a much slower pace.  It was quite warm in the craft room but luckily there was a nice breeze coming through the open window.  So tonight I have not one, but two cards to share, but they are connected by a common inspiration, so you will understand when you see them.

Inspiration

I took my inspiration from an Altenew class called Color Your Day, which is one of their Level 2 classes and a required class for AECP.  It is also my 10th and therefore final class in Level 2!!!  Yay!  So this class is all about adding more color to your cards and projects, not something I have a problem with as I love colour, but this class has a different focus and encourages you to think more about your inspiration and colour choices.  So for this class I decided to work with the lesson that asks you to use a photo as inspiration and make two different cards inspired by the photo, and use different techniques to do it.

For my inspiration photo I chose this postcard that it usually sitting on my bookshelves, and to make the cards I am using the Oriental Orchids stamp set from Altenew.  I love the dark coloured Buddha against the simple light background and then the bright pink orchids draped across him.

Overview of my card process

First card

For my first card, I decided to use Tombow Markers to stamp out the orchids on watercolour paper that was 5.5 x 5.5 inches square.  After stamping with the markers I activated them using a water brush and allowed the colours to blend.  Then I added some detail with Polychromos coloured pencils.

I also drew in a stem for all the flowers to hang from using a brown pencil and the smaller bud stems in green pencil.

I used the THANK YOU sentiment from the same stamp set and stamped it using a dark brown ink to match the dark brown stems.

The final touches were to add some light gold splatters to the watercolour paper and then mount the panel onto a dark brown card base.  You can just see some of the gold shining a little in the photo below as it catches the light.

And here is the first card next to the photo inspiration.

Second Card

For my second card, I decided to use the stamp set in the more traditional way.  Since it is a layering stamp set, I used all the layers and some pink Altenew inks (Cherry Blossom set) to stamp out multiple orchids. But first, I wanted to stamp it on to some light pink cardstock and since I didn’t have any, I made my own using this Pink Diamond ink!

Once the ink was dry, it was time to start stamping all the layers.  To make it easier and quicker, I am using my Stamp Platform and if you line the stamps up just right, it should be possible to stamp multiple rows of orchids just by moving the paper and not the stamps.

This time I stamped multiple orchids using Versafine black ink, then moved through the layers using the rest of the pink inks in the Cherry Blossom set.  This took no time at all!

Once the inks were dry I added the yellow centres using a yellow Posca Paint Marker.

This stamp set actually has a matching die set but I don’t have it so I fussy cut out all the little flowers and then starting planning my placement on dark brown card this time.

I coloured more cardstock using the Cherry Blossom inks and then used it to die cut LOVE using the Bold Alpha dies.  I wanted to layer one on top of the other, slightly offset to look like a drop shadow.

After gluing everything down on the brown card, I added some pink acrylic paint around the edge of the brown card just to finish it off, and then attached it to a white card base.  And here is the second card next to the photo inspiration.

And for comparison, here are both cards together with the photo inspiration.

Thoughts

This was fun! Using a photo inspiration was a lot like entering a challenge with a mood board as inspiration.  It is a different way of looking at things and can often inspire very different results.  Today I was looking through some photos trying to find one that was suitable and might inspire me, when I looked up and saw this postcard propped up on the shelf.  Immediately I knew I had to use it and then I remembered that I had the orchid stamp set, which is one of the earlier ones and one I haven’t used in a while, but somehow it all came together to create these two cards.  This is actually my final class for Level 2 so the next step is the class project – can’t wait!

I hope you enjoyed reading about this card and that you find inspiration from it.

Challenges

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Anything Goes – anything goes!

PROJECT RECIPE:

Altenew – Oriental Orchid stamp set, Bold Alpha dies, Cherry Blossom ink cube set
White cardstock
Brown cardstock
Watercolour paper
Tombow Markers and permanent Mono fineliner
Posca Paint Pen – yellow
Finnabair metallic paint
Polychromos pencils
Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves ink
Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
Paperartsy Fresco Paint – Bubblegum
From stash: postcard, water brush,

FYI Here’s a list of all my Class posts for Level 2:

.Beyond Basic Backgrounds
.In the Mood for Color
.With A Twist
.Creative Watercolor Media
.Polychromatic
.Beautiful Details
.Color Your Day You are here
.Impressive Heat Embossing
.Magical Marker Techniques
.Masking Unleashed

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