Spontaneous Joy

Hi everyone.  I havve had this stamp in my NBUS box for a long time.  After seeing my friend Robyn's card HERE, I just had to ink it up!  Thank you so much for the inspiration Robyn!!

Entering this top card into the May Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  I followed the Anything Goes and didn't add the twist this time.

This is such a beautiful and elegant image.  I placed it in my misti and coloured just the stems and leaves with a ink pen.  I spritzed with just a little water and stamped onto mixed media paper.  I spritzed again slightly because the ink was too dry the first time.  I moved around the excess ink with my paint brush.  I wiped down my stamp and started again, this time inking all of the flower heads in coral.  Spritzed with water and stamped, etc. until I was happy with it.  Then applied a bright red just to the parts of the flower heads that I thought should be darker, spritzed with water and stamped.  Once I was happy I let it dry before adding a sentiment and then splattered more coral over the card front.

Close-up ...

Happy with how this turned out but could not get my camera to see the true colours.  The flowers are coral and red --- so pretty! :)

I made a second one pretty much the same, just changing up the colour of the blooms.

This time I wanted to add stenciling to the background, which I did with a pale gray.  The stencil was too busy so it took away from the pretty flowers.  I used a damp paper towel to remove most of the gray ink, but the wet paper towel also got on a bit of the flowers.  You may be able to see a faint outline of stenciling in the close-up ... and how the colours bled a little.  And you can tell the card front has a gray haze about it, but I think it adds character.  :)  I added a sentiment and then got a little carried away with splattering. :)

Close-up ...

Updated:  Since this is a NBUS (never-before-used-schtuff) stamp, I'm sending the purple version above over to the NBUS Challenge #14. 

Penny Black Products:
Spontaneous Joy (40-597)
Special Sentiments (30-574)
Eloquence (30-162)

Stamps:  Spontaneous Joy, Special Sentiments, Eloquents (all Penny Black)
Paper:  Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Stampin' writers: Gumball Green, Real Red (Stampin' Up!); Distress Markers: Abandoned Coral, Seedless Preserves, Mowed Lawn (Tim Holtz); Black (Memento)
Accessories & Tools:  water mister, paint brushes

Challenges:
Penny Black Saturday May Challenge - Anything Goes
NBUS Challenge #14