Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Always Hollyhocks



Hello, Friends,

I wasn't sure it was going to be possible, but I made another card for Anna Kossakovskaya's Casometry Challenge 3.  This card is for the Randomizer Stage 2 challenge which is to use the same stamp at least three times on one card.  

If you didn't click the link above, you've got to check out the card Anna made on her blog here for this challenge.  Anna used the same stamp on her card, but she used it a lot more than three times!  Her card is fabulous!!

For my card, I was pleasantly surprised when I randomly chose the Clearly Besotted stamp set Sunshine and Smiles.  Clearly Besoted stopped making stamps in the winter of 2016 with plans to come back in 2017.  I haven't seen anything from them yet and they're great floral sets are becoming harder and harder to find.  This is what the stamp set I used looks like, in case you can't find it for sale online.


I said I was pleasantly surprised, because this would not have been the stamp set I chose on my own for this challenge.  Since we're using randomly picked stamp sets (Evernote chose mine), this is the one that came up and it was perfect for this challenge.  I think I may keep up the idea of chosing stamp sets randomly sometimes to give the stamps I don't always think of immediately a better chance of being used!

I have never made a card using the masking technique before, but I knew instantly I wanted to make a garden of hollyhocks for my card.  I stamped my hollyhock image on a post-it note and cut out the bottom portion of the stamp which would overlap on my card.  I wanted the middle floral image to be in the front and center of my card so I stamped it first.  Then, I put my post-it note cut out over that image.  Using the MISTI, I was able to move my card to the left and then to the right to stamp the same flowers two more times.  I removed the post-it mask and my images were ready to color!  

I broke out my Copic markers and began coloring.  I tried to shade my flowers based on the images I saw when I googled "hollyhocks" as well as my knowledge of shading that I'm trying to put into practice.  For instance, flowers and leaves that would be behind other flowers and leaves would have to be darker than the ones further in front because the sunshine wouldn't be able to reach them as much.  Since the petals on the flowers would be curved in real life, the part of the curve that would be closest to you would be the lightest because the sunshine would hit that area the first.  The edges that are curving  back would be farther from the sunshine and would therefore be darker.  I still have a lot to learn about shading, but I'm trying to get better at it!

When all of my coloring was complete, I cut out my flowers using the largest die in the My Favorite Things Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frame set.  I placed the die over the flowers, placing them at the bottome of the rectangle while leaving room at the top for the sentiment.  Then, I cut another rectangle and frame with the exact same die from solid white cardstock to make my white scalloped frame around the flowers.  Before I attached those pieces to my card base, I stamped the word "Always" as the sentiment on top.  I wasn't sure if that font was going to look good with the more whimsical looking flowers, but I was very happy with the results!  That was good, because I stamped right on the colored cardstock, so there was no changing my mind if I didn't like it!

I've also been trying to improve my pictures.  Short of winning the lottery so I could get a better camera and lighting equipment, some better backgrounds was the best I could come up with at this point.  You may see several different milk glass pieces featured in my pictures starting with this one.  They belonged to my Grandma who passed away last fall.  She and I both loved milk glass, so my Mom has been bringing her collection home to me.  I love being able to feature some of them with my cards.  My Grandma always liked seeing the cards I made, so it's nice to combine the two forms of art together.

Besides entering my card in Anna's challenge, I am also entering it in this week's Color Throwdown Challenge #440 to use purple, yellow and green on a card.

  


While my card might look a little more pink, when I put it on different colors of background paper, you could tell instantly that it was more purple than pink.  The purple background paper made the colors shine while the pink just looked wrong!


If I don't see you before, hopefully I'll be back next week for the next stage of Anna's challenge!  

Happy Stamping!


I used the following products to make this card:

Sunshine and Smiles Stamp Set by Clearly Besotted
Brushed Blooms Stamp Set by Papertrey Ink
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad by Tsukineko
Dark Chocolage Ink Pad by Altenew
Copic Markers
Solar White 80 lb. Cardstock by Neenah
Pistachio Pudding Cardstock by Stampin' Up (retired)
Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frames by My Favorite Things




9 comments:

Unknown said...

So lovely card, Angela! I like your coloring and the frame. And the entire layout looks so nice!!
And I want to ask you to tell me more about your catalog in evernote - how does it look and how you keep there your supplies))

Anonymous said...

Oh how pretty! My grandma used to have holly hocks. I always considered them an old fashioned flower because of this. Anyway, your card is so rich in color and so pretty. Today it is cold and dreary with some rain and wind so this is a good reminder of spring. Your coloring always amazes me!

Chris R. from Iowa

Wanda Cullen said...

What a beautiful take on the colors! Love your hollyhocks! Thanks for playing along with us at CTD!

Renee Moran said...

I love these flowers! So pretty

Teresa Kline said...

hello! what an amazing card, luv the beautiful flowers! I am so glad you played along with us at simon says stamp wednesday challenge!

blog-paperie blooms
ig-2klines

sparkle & shine, kindness *~*

Kelly S. said...

This is absolutely gorgeous! Wow, it definitely does not look like this was your first time with masking, the hollyhocks are stamped and colored perfectly!

Unknown said...

Love your card Angela. Your coloring is just beautiful!!

paperkicks said...

Fantastic card!! Love the repeated stamping, and your design is perfection!

Karen Dunbrook said...

so pretty...I love hollyhocks.
TFS,
Karen

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