Fresh Garden Birthday - Stampin' Up! Storybook Garden Patch

 While we might have had snow and freezing rain the last few days my flower bulbs are decidedly trying to tell me that it's almost spring.  I have daffodils and tulips poking up through the mulch and the maple trees have tiny buds already!  So taking my cue from (some parts of) nature I made a gardening themed birthday card using the most recent challenge colors that I gave my customers for inspiration.  I used the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge for the layout.

 I haven't used the Storybook Moments Suite products much at all so far and I really think it's mostly due to the cold wet winter we've been having so far this year.  I just haven't been inspired to make spring garden or adorable woodland animal cards.  And also to be honest, I think the coloring aspect of the line art images has been a bit of a mental block for me.  I'm not a natural color-er so it takes some self-motivation and the right mindset to keep at it until I get a result that I like!  

  I started with a Basic Beige card base and then cut a Very Vanilla Spotlight on Nature circle.  I strung a bit of linen thread through the holes in the circle and tied a bow before adhering it with dimensionals.  

 The 3 images from the Storybook Garden Patch stamp set are stamped in Stazon onto watercolor paper.  I used a water painter brush and just stamped a clear block into each color ink pad and picked up the color from there.  Like I said I played around for a bit trying to get the shading to my liking before die cutting.

  The images are popped on dimensionals on the edge of the circle to follow the sketch.  The sentiment from Saying Hey stamp set is stamped in black to the side.  And finally a few retired Adhesive-Backed Speckled Dots are added to the circle to echo the terracotta color of the pots.

  Thanks for looking! Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE. 

Stamps: Storybook Garden Patch, Saying Hey

Ink: Stazon black, Cajun Craze, Garden Green, Blueberry Bushel

Paper: Basic Beige, Very Vanilla, watercolor paper

Accessories: Spotlight on Nature dies, Storybook Garden Patch dies, dimensionals, linen thread, Adhesive-Backed Speckled Dots (retired)