The Enduring Beauty captured my immediate interest for several reasons. First, it’s florals and I do love flowers! Second, it’s a very large image, which takes up quite a bit of space on a card. Third, this bundle not only includes dies, but STENCILS (SU calls them masks) to color the large image!
I don’t have a ton of experience using stencils to color images, but what I love about them is that it’s a quick way to add color, which means creating the finished card takes far less time than hand-coloring an image like this.
There are 5 stencils (masks) in this bundle and each of them are numbered. However, I ended up using them out of order because it made more sense to me. I used Berry Burst for the petals and a combination of Soft Seafoam and Shaded Spruce for the leaves. If I’m being completely honest, the 2nd layer stencil for the flowers I wasn’t completely happy with my initial result. The contrast was too stark for my taste and I felt like I needed deeper shading in other areas that the stencil didn’t provide. Ended up going back to the stencil that has the largest opening for the flowers and making that color darker. I was happier with that result. I chalk this up to my inexperience though! I feel like I went in too heavy-handed, so I’m going to try another with this in mind. I did end up going in with Stampin’ Blends after I used my blending brushes to add additional depth here and there, which I’m very happy with.
After I completed the coloring of the floral, I used a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock and applied one of the masks from the Four Square Decorative Masks set create a pattern for my background using the same color ink. I also blended more Crumb Cake ink into the center to give a shadow effect to the florals since I intended on mounting them using Stampin’ Dimensionals.
To add even more interest to the card front, I used the new Notes of Nature stamp set that has some great vintage images, foliage, sentiments and even some splatter spots! There are coordinating dies that you can purchase as a bundle, but for this card, I only wanted to use the images. I stamped two different images in either corner using Crumb Cake ink, then adhered the focal image with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
Now it was time for the sentiment! I wanted something bold, so I used the Thoughtful Moments Hybrid Embossing folder and dies. This embossing folder allows you to ink the outer edges of the sentiments either directly from the stamp pad or using the new Stampin’ Brayer. Once inked, I popped in the die and a sheet of Basic White cardstock and ran it through my Stamp and Emboss Machine. What I ended up with was a set of sentiments ready to use on any card! For this card, I inked the edges in Early Espresso, then I colored in the center with my Berry Burst Stampin’ Blends. I then adhered that on the lower corner of the die cut floral image with liquid adhesive and one stampin’ dimensional under the “te” since that part hangs off the flower’s edge.
Last, I added three Brushed Brass Butterflies for a bit of sparkle along with some Wink of Stella on the center of the leaves. I also used a white gel pen to add some dots to the centers of each flower. Overall, I’m very happy with the way this turned out and can’t wait to try it in some different color combinations! Which colors would you like to see?
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