Hi guys! It's been a busy summer, so I've been grateful for my alone time in the craft room early in the morning. With coffee. I was browsing through my Pinkfresh Studio stash and came across this gorgeous illustration by Emily Midgett. I was in the mood to color, so I grabbed some heavyweight white cardstock and used the Wonderful in Every Way stamp to get started on a new project!

I stamped the flower image with a light ink color, Warm Buff, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the card yet; I was just focused on the coloring. I started with stencil 1 for the bloom and kept the colors light: Ballet Slipper, Peach Fuzz, and Soft Lilac. Then, with stencil 2, I used the Indian Summer ink cube collection on most of the bloom but not all of it. I also used some pinks and purples on the flower: Ballet Slipper, Sparkling Rose and Bubble Gum. Soft Lilac and Lavender were brushed over some of the pinks. I tried to remember to brush pink over the orange where they meet to help the color transition from one to the other. 

I lightly brushed Doe and Warm Buff over some orange coloring to subtly change the shade. Then, I used Pinkfresh's Calico White with a Tsukineko Fantastix blending tool and applied highlights with white pigment ink here and there on the flower. Because pigment ink stays wet for a short while, I was able to use my finger to dab at the lines and blend a bit. 

I used pink and purple for the second bloom, only purple for the slightly hidden bloom, and more of the Calico White.

Then, I used stencil #3 (a detail stencil) to apply another layer of oranges and pinks, and I loved how that bold bloom turned out! For the leaves, I used Waterfall and Turquoise on the tips and Mint for the rest. Then, I used Emerald City near the base of the leaves and Evergreen with stencil 5, which is the detail for the leaves. 

I had so much fun coloring this, just experimenting, not having any preconceptions about what it would look like—just playing. (I added purple to my orange flower!) 

I put my colored image back into my stamping platform and heat embossed over it with Wow! Gold Pearl embossing powder and die cut it out.

I decided to color block the background and include some of Pinkfresh's Gold Glitter cardstock. I thought the finished card looked nice and was happy with it until I saw these gold glitter wildflower stems in a baggie in my stash drawer. I tucked them in around that big bloom and loved it! The stems are from the Wildflower Bouquet die set.

I used the Wonderful Sentiments stamp and die sets for one of my favs; I love how hopeful it is. I added a few Lilac: Clear Drops and was done with my card!

I hope some of these design choices have inspired you to make something new today! Thanks so much for dropping by.

-Anne