Cherry blossom card

I am taking a (very short) break from playing with my koi stamp and decided to make a card with the other stamp set by Nicole Wright Designs, one with gorgeous cherry blossoms. It has a branch of blossoms and loose blooms in the set. I chose to use only the branch to make a background.

I stamped the branch a few times on water colour paper with sepia Archival ink. I didn't want to use black, as I wanted a bit of a softer look. After it dried I painted in the blossoms with liquid mask. It dries up a bit orangy, so you can tell where you have been.  After that completely dried, I painted over it with distress ink and a water brush. The blooms are protected by the rubbery film of the mask, so they stay white.

The ink dried quickly and I rubbed off the rubber mask...and the white blossoms appear to pop off the paper.
I coloured the hearts of the flowers with a pink wink of stella brush, to give it a shimmer as well as a pink detail. The stems I traced with a distress marker in a soft green.

I wanted to use the sentiment that comes with the set. I die cut a shield with a Tim Holtz thinlit die and after I cut it, I put it through my machine again with a silicone mat to emboss the edge. I inked it with a soft colour and stamped over it with a crackle stamp, also by Tim Holtz. That is my go to stamp to add interest and a vintage look for almost anything!

I traced the embossed edge with glossy accents and sprinkled it with the new distress glitter dust. That is the most beautiful shimmering glitter I have ever seen.

I stuck the water colour paper to a card blank and then stuck the sentiment on the card using dimensional foam tape.

It was missing something, so I stained a piece of crinkle ribbon with distress ink in the same green as the stems of the cherry blossoms. Just to tie it all together, no pun intended ;-)

I made a fluffy bow and glued it to the card with my hot glue gun.

As a finishing touch I inked the edges with walnut stain distress ink and the card is done...

I hope the real cherry blossoms will bloom soon, because that means spring is arriving.

Thank you for visiting and taking the time to read my blog.

Take care,
Frederique
Xxx