DCM - June elemental inspiration

I can't believe we're already a week into June, but it also means that it's an elemental inspiration challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers blog this week!

Enfys picked the image this time round:

It was initially a bit of a head-scratcher for me... I could pick out elements I'd use here and there but wasn't sure how I wanted to bring them together. So while I procrastinated on that point I decided the best place to start was with a watercolour background since there's one in that photo if you look hard enough. ;)

I saw the lovely florals and leaves and they were the perfect excuse for me to crack open my new Sketched Flowers stamps from Simon Says Stamp.

Stamps: Simon Says Stamp - Sketched Flowers
Dies: MFT - Cause for Celebration
Other: Gansai Tambi watercolour paints

So I heat embossed the main floral spray from the stamp set onto the back of a piece of Distress watercolour card and taped it to a board ready for painting.

I really went to town with the jade-inspired background first before starting on the flowers. Lots of stops for bits to dry in between layers.

It was a few days later having painted the background panel that I finally sat down to make my card, but this is where the hard part came in.

Finding a way to use the panel without the sentiment either getting completely lost or the sentiment covering nice bits of painting.

In the end I decided to use some brush-stroke style dies by MFT that I needed to layer up so they would stand out on the background, I also thought I'd use my left-over mixed paint to do a wash and some rose and gold splatter on the card I'd cut for the top layer. But in the end the sentiment was too lost against the background so I had to find another solution.

I cut a fishtail from woodgrain card (woodgrain is also in the inspiration photo) and also used my left-over jade paint to paint the background fishtail so that the sentiment would stand out better.

Then I heat embossed the leaves and flower, painted those and fussy cut them for a finishing touch.

I'm pretty happy with the end result, but will definitely colour this background again. It's a lovely floral spray and would work with various colour combos.

I'm also trying to work out why I'm currently having an issue with all my white heat-embossed projects being problematic when die cut/trimmed with a trimmer. The heat embossing is flaking off the background paper and coming away. Not really noticeable when it's on white card, but not great if it will be on another colour!

Very odd, anyway, I've tried not using a powder tool, I've tried a new Versamark ink pad, all sorts, but same issue.

It's a shame as I really enjoy the results of white heat embossing for outline images and want to do more cards of this style. :)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this week's challenge, make sure you check out the ideas from the rest of the design team here. :D

Happy crafting!

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Simon Says Stamp - Sketched Flowers stamps Shop at: SSS	MFT - Cause for Celebration dies Shop at: EH | SHC | SSS	Versamark ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Woodgrain cardstock - Neutrals Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS	Tim Holtz - 4.25 x 5.5 Distress Watercolor Cardstock Shop at: AZ | SSS	Hero Arts - White embossing powder Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC | SHC	Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36-pan watercolour set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	EK Success powder tool Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Marvy Jewel Picker Shop at: AZ	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI precision stamping tool Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

Comments

[Svenja]

Lovely take on the theme, Nat! You really do like your watercolours, don't you? And I like to watch your results :-)

[Sonja]

I love your card. It´s so colourful and feels like summer.

[Dawn]

WOW and WOW. You card is just stunning. I love it. x