hooked on hydrangea...

I played a bit this weekend & made a few cards & tags...

I wanted to combine some older stamps with some brand new products...

and to make something DIFFERENT with a new stencil...

I chose the new "for the holidays" SiSi...and decided to remodel the wreath into something that can be used year round...

here's what the wreath looks like on a holiday tag,

when using my embossing paste with the basically bricks stencil & the wreath stencil...

and here it is again...

this sample uses both the stamp & coordinating stencil...

the basically bricks again...

but this time I used inks, instead of embossing paste...

today's card started with this stencil...

and a plan to change it up...

I started by making my background on manila card stock, using tree branch & hydrangea archival reinkers with lots of rubbing alcohol & a drop of gold metallic mixative...

hydrangea & tree branch might be my most favorite combo of colors for this technique...(today at least)...

it's not a combo you would expect to work...purple & brown? hmmm...

but it turns out so pretty every time...

I stenciled these 2 portions of the wreathe, using leaf green & fern green archival inks...

toward the top left of the card...

next I filled in more areas with the same 2 green archival colors...

using small portions of the leaves...

don't worry about the (ugly) intersection of the pieces...that can easily be covered up...but keep that in mind when you're stamping...

  

now to use an older stamp...

this is the adorable daisy from daisy art...genius name huh???

some days I amaze myself...some days...NOT SO MUCH!

I stamped just the daisy on a manila scrap with jet black archival, then inked over it with hydrangea archival...

white edges bug me, so after I cut out the flower, I used the pumice stone marker on the edges...

I wanted to stamp a full flourish & a partial one...

it's easy to mask off the unwanted area with painters tape or a post it...

ink the stamp & REMOVE the tape before stamping...

oops... missing photo...

after I stamped the flourishes, I used the new ornate dots overlay stencil with tree branch on the left side of the card...

you can see the full flourish & the partial one below...

both are stamped in fern green archival...

this was looking like it should be a thank you card...

so I stamped the sentiment with jet black toward the bottom right...

below you'll see that I added shading to the edges with brushed corduroy distress ink & some tarnished brass dots for a bit of shimmer...

to add the dots, shake the stain, then dispense onto the craft sheet, pick up with the detailer water brush & flick over the card...

the dots are sure tiny, but they do show up & add another layer to the background...

to make a perfectly coordinating card, I inked the outside edge of the manila cardstock with hydrangea...

I inked just enough, but not the middle, since I was going to glue the card front over it...

a little doodling with a waterproof pen...

some black glaze pen dots to the dots on the flourish...

some dimensional foam to the back of the flower...

glue the card front onto the card & done!

I'm happy that I could use the wreath to make an everyday card...

now it just look like leaves...

and that I used the cute daisy in a new way too...

in the past, I was never a huge fan of purple...

but it always caught my attention when someone used it in my class...

maybe I just didn't know how to use it!

for me, hydrangea is perfect...

a beautiful blueish-purple...

the label doesn't do it justice...

I'm hooked, especially when paired with tree branch & greens...

oh...wait...

I just used it with dandelion & orange blossom...

that tag is coming soon...

yep...hooked on hydrangea!

I've been keeping some questions in a file & 

I plan to do another Q & A post in the near future...

if there's something you'd like to know, you can shoot me an email or ask in the comment section...

and as a reminder, if you need a quick answer, email will get you a much faster response...

I hope you're inspired to get out your hydrangea &...

make art!

wendy

ps...yippee!

NEW PRODUCTS start shipping

TODAY!!!