Monday, April 19, 2021

Flowers, Always, and Always

One of my favorite artists, Claude Monet (1840 - 1926), is often quoted as having said, "I must have flowers, always, and always." His work certainly conveys that message. Most of us don't give flowers a second thought but they truly add so much to our world. I think that is why we enjoy creating with them. Here in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, many of the cacti are in bloom and the desert is alive with signs of spring so I am using flowers to celebrate with a birthday card for a friend.


My card was inspired by two specific challenges. The first is Double Trouble #82, running from Monday, April 19, through Sunday evening, May 2, 2021. There are always three "Things" to this challenge. And participating in each Thing gives you additional chances toward winning the random prize.

1. Thing 1 (required) is to include flowers in your project. This is a perfect challenge to create something special for Mother's Day or another special occasion. I chose to create a birthday card.

2. Thing 2 (optional) is to link your card to "Make the Cards #13". This is a fun card challenge with a twist so you may wish to review their guidelines before you create. This challenge begins on Monday, April 19, and ends on Saturday, May 1, 2021, at 7:00 pm, Eastern Daylight Time.

3. Thing 3 (optional) is our fun twist. In this case we are presenting a "Candy-Coated" color board below designed by "Make the Cards". 


I decided to go with a Slimline design. Onto a white card base, I added a panel of bright aqua cardstock, followed by a die-cut stitched scalloped panel cut from Kraft. The flourishes, flowers, and sentiment were all die-cut from white cardstock and then colored with Copic markers. I used the two red-violet colors for the flowers and the two blue-green colors for the flourishes. I purposely gave the flourishes a worn look hoping it would resemble verdigris.  To break up the color a bit, I kept the sentiment white. 


The elements were added to the card base. A few flowers were added directly to the card, a few were added with thin foam tape and a few with regular foam tape to achieve varying heights. To finish, white pearls were added. The inside was decorated with a flower and flourish. With the naked eye, my colors are a good match to the Color Board but my photography seemed to affect the colors. After the photos were taken, I added Wink of Stella to the flowers. I have found it does not photograph well so waited to add it.

We hope you'll join us at the DTC82 Blog and also at the MTC13 Blog for these challenges. You could win that random prize!

Materials
Inks: Copic Alcohol Markers
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Baked Brown Sugar & Tempting Turquoise
Dies: Spellbinders (flowers & sentiment), MFT (flourish)
Misc.: Pearls and foam tape from stash

10 comments:

  1. What a beautiful slimline creation Melanie ... awesome take on our color challenge! LOVE that vertical sentiment too! Great job! So happy we have partnered up for some fun!
    Darlene
    MTCC DT

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  2. This is so pretty - the flourishes add a perfect touch to the gorgeous flowers :)

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  3. This is lovely Melanie, I like how you colored the flowers, I never think of just coloring die cuts to the color I want, I always search and search for the right color of paper! Glad you are playing along at Make the Cards too!

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  4. What a beautiful card you made :-)) I like how you take our colours!
    Thanks for playing with us at MTTC!

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  5. GREAT slimline card! And thanks for playing along with the Make the Cards challenge!

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  6. This is just gorgeous and I love that you created a slimline! The flowering Cacti must be spectacular this time of year. Thank you for playing along with the Make The Cards Challenge!!

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  7. Love your slimline design. Gorgeous coloring on your flowers! Thanks for playing with us at Make the Cards Challenge!

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  8. I agree with that quote about flowers! I love your beautiful slimline card and I love the scrolls coming out from the flowers! :)

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  9. Beautiful card Mel, love the pinks and blues against the kraft background... gorgeous card.

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  10. I love your slimline design here. The flowers are so pretty, the shades of coral and pink are gorgeous! They were so well with the kraft card base. Thank you for sharing with Make the Cards Challenge #13!

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