Basket of Hydrangeas

It's another wet and rainy day here on the Westcoast ... perfect for playing inside in the art studio!! :)

Have you ever watched a stunt show on TV where there's a warning, like "try this at your own risk" ??  Well, I'm putting that warning on my card today.  Not trying to be negative, just want to warn that this took hours to make.  Mind you, I had an idea in my head and sometimes it takes a few tries to get it the way you pictured it.

I am a team member of CanadaInksUp! This is a Stampin' Up! group headed by Alison Solven.  Alison send out her monthly newsletter the other day and in it was a color challenge.  The past week I've participated in three challenges through Splitcoaststampers and had so much fun.  So I was definitely going to try to come up with something special to enter.  And another part of the challenge for myself, was to use only SU! products.  The colors used are:  Perfect Plum, Baja Breeze, River Rock and Very Vanilla.  Beautiful colors ... and beautiful together!  I love to do more nature type cards ... trees, landscapes, flowers ... and I thought, what is purple and blue??  Hydrangeas of course!! Hope you like.

 

"Basket of Hydrangeas"

 

 

Stamps:  Because I care (SU!)

Paper:  River Rock, Perfect Plum, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Old Olive (SU!)

Ink:  River Rock, Perfect Plum, Baja Breeze, Old Olive; Stampin' Write markers:  Perfect Plum, Baja Breeze, white gel pen

Accessories & Tools:  Boho Blossom punch, Rubber brayer, rubber bands, Tombow glue, sponges, sticky strips & dimensionals

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I started by stamping the hydrangea flower in Perfect Plum ink onto Perfect Plum cardstock three times.  I cut out the flowers to use as my base (I cut one smaller than the other two).  I stamped the hydrangea flower again in Baja Breeze ink, onto Baja Breeze cardstock twice and cut out.

I used a lot of my scraps of Whisper White cardstock (great way to use them up!) and sponged some with Perfect Plum ink (both sides) and some with Baja Breeze ink (again both sides).  I like using the Whisper White cardstock for the flowers because it is a little lighter weight than the colored cardstock and easier to manipulate).  I punched out lots and lots of the smallest flower of the Boho Blossom punch out of my sponged paper.  I took the corresponding Stampin' Write marker and drew in "veins" at the center of each blossom and also added a large dot in the center.  I scrunched up all the flowers, breaking down the fibers of the paper so that they were easier to shape into petals.  I put each flower on my sponge mat and using the solid end of a small paint brush, pushed in the middle of the flower until the sides came up and created a petal.  I dipped each into Tombow glue and attached it to the flower base.  You need to do a few at a time, leave to dry and work on the second flower, then third ,etc. and by the time you get back to the first flower, the glue has set up and you can add a few more flowers.  Keep repeating until all the bases are covered with petals.  Once the glue was dry, I went back and added a small white dot in the center of each petal with the white gel pen.  You can't do it ahead because it will flake off when you shape your petals.

Now onto the basket.  I wrapped about six rubber bands around the barrel of my brayer and inked with River Rock.  I lightly rolled over Very Vanilla cardstock, creating an "aged wood" look.  I cut the cardstock into 3/8" strips and wove it together.  I cut out a base of Very Vanilla and glued on the woven piece then cut it down to size.

I stamped seven leaves onto Old Olive cardstock and cut them out.

I attached all the pieces to the card base as shown in the picture above, using sticky strips and dimensionals to secure and add dimension.