Everyday Expressions

Hi Everyone! Thanks for joining me again! Today I’m sharing a birthday card I created for someone special with one of my favorite flowers from one of my favorite stamp companies: Oriental Orchid from Altenew! I’ve had this set since December, but hadn’t gotten around to experimenting until today. I have to say that the pictures do not do this set justice! It is so pretty. I love it!

I began by experimenting in my journal using the larger orchid outline stamp and different embossing powders. Next I tried different ink combinations, and settled on Distress Inks in a watercolor effect with white emobossed outline. I’ve begun experimenting in my art journal with new sets and paper ideas. I find that by doing this I have far fewer mistakes, frustration, and waste a lot less in materials.

The first step was to stamp all of the flowers, buds, leaves, and stems in white embossing powder on Ranger watercolor paper. Next I stamped the flowers and buds with Spun Sugar Distress Ink. Then I sprayed quite a bit of water over the ink and let it run and soften. I dabbed large drops, and then dried with the heat gun. Then I stamped the second layer of stamps with Picked Raspberries, and repeated the water/drying steps. Finally, I stamped the last layer with Picked Raspberries again, but did not wet this final step.

The buds were stamped, wet, and dried in the same manner as the flowers, but I used Twisted Citron for the body, and Picked Raspberries for the accent layer. I used Crushed Olive and Mowed Lawn Distress Markers to color the leaves and stems, and then followed the wet/dry technique.

After inking all of the flower parts, I fussy cut each piece. Ugh! I am not a fan of fussy cutting, but it’s sooooo worth the effort when you don’t have the matching dies or they aren’t available!

To create the main card panel, I stamped Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, and Cracked Pistachio onto my craft mat and added lots of water to each. I sprayed water onto the cardstock, and then used a round watercolor brush to lightly add each color. I dabbed large drops, and then dried it with a heat gun. Next, I lightly misted water onto the card to create a soft water droplet effect, and gently dabbed the water off with a paper towel. (This creates a much softer background than dribbling water with your fingers.) Finally without drying the cardstock beforehand, I used my watercolor brush to lightly splatter the watercolors onto the paper. Once again, this is a much softer effect, than if I had dried the paper first.

The card base is heavy black cardstock from Simon Says Stamp, and then I added a panel of Altenew’s gold foil cardstock. Finally, I trimmed the watercolor panel on two edges using a Lawn Fawn Scalloped Rectangle die, and backed with a foam panel before adhering to the base.

As none of my orchids are blooming right now (LOL), I looked at several pictures to decide how to layout the flowers. I began by taping the stems to the card, and then used tiny bits of foam tape to give a very slight dimension to the buds. Then I used foam dots to adhere the flowers for greater dimension.

I die cut the “happy” sentiment from Altenew’s Halftone Happy in both Crafter’s Companion Shimmering Cardstock in black and Altenew’s Gold Foil Cardstock. Also, I decided I needed a little more dimension, and cut the “happy” again from black craft foam. The “birthday” sentiment is from the same set, and I double embossed this in black and gold Ranger Embossing Powder on vellum cut using My Favorite Things Stitched Flag that I flipped and cut for a basic rectangle. I added these before deciding on the placement for the leaves. Finally, I added three clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, and Wink of Stella on all of the flowers.

There you have it! What do you think? I am thrilled with the outcome. Who wouldn’t love an orchid birthday card? Thanks for stopping by! Love and crafty hugs!

Erin