April 11, 2014

Birthday Peony

Good morning!  Well, it's morning where I am.  :-).  I can't believe the lovely temperatures we've been having lately.  Lovely sunny days too.  Well, except for one day last week when we had about 30mm of rain.  However the rain and warmth has melted an incredible amount of snow!  Yay!  It doesn't look good for the river flooding though this year.  I'm not sure how it's not going to flood.  So much snow and river levels were high before the winter too.  Luckily, our house is not in the flood zone.  :-).

Anyway, I've got a card to share today that features a lovely large peony stamp.  It's a jumbo stamp by Stampendous.  I don't think it's still available though.  I looked on their site and couldn't find it.  It's too bad cause it's lovely.


So, I stamped and embossed the peony in black then used my Spectrum Noir markers (DR3 & GB5) to colour it in.  You might wonder why the colours seem a bit muted.  Well, it started out as a different idea that didn't pan out so I fussy cut the peony out to salvage it.  The paper the peony is on is a medium blue colour which muted the colours.  I like the effect though.  Anyway, once that was done I stamped my flourishes (Inkadinkado) in dove grey StazOn.  I added a butterfly in the same grey.  The butterfly stamp is a very old one.  It one of the first stamps I bought all those many years ago when this illness....*cough*, I mean, obsession....I mean, hobby, started.  ;-).  I still love that butterfly.  I stamped the sentiment (Fiskars) in black. The next and last step was to adhere the peony to the card.  I love the way the bold peony looks on the white with the soft grey.

I'm linking up to the following challenges:

STAMPlorations - the monthly challenge is stamping and your favourite technique.  Well, colouring is one of my top favs to do.  :-)
The Card Concept - they want you to add a butterfly.  My card could be considered Clean & Simple or Clean & Graphic I suppose, though I think the latter applies more.


Spectrum Noir Challenge - it's an "anything goes" challenge this month
Time Out Challenge - the theme is birthday with an optional twist of masculine.  I decided to opt out of the twist.  :-)

On a little bit different note, I'd like to welcome a new follower!  Her name is Patti and her blog is stationary Styles.  She's been blogging since 2008!!  She's a wonderful card artist and I recommend checking out her blog.  :-). Welcome Patti!

Well, I do have another card to share but that will another post a little later on today.  Until then have a lovely day!

14 comments:

  1. Anonymous4/11/2014

    This is stunning! Love the muted effect and your colouring is fab. Thanks for joining STAMPlorations' April Challenge. Good Luck! Monika

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wowzers! This is one amazing card, Kim! Your coloring is so beautiful and I like the grey stamps in the background! Looks like a winner to me!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your colouring is gorgeous and I am so glad you mentioned you had coloured on blue paper; the muted effect is very pretty. Your details in grey work perfectly.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your bloom is just gorgeous - so interesting to hear it is actually on blue paper. Great gray flourishes too. I was just having some fun (as well as some agony) with this peony this week too, Maybe you want to check out my posts. Thanks for sharing this beauty with us at STAMPlorations this month.

    http://rieslingmama.blogspot.de/2014/04/epilogue-to-danke-lawnscaping-sss.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. The colour of that peony is beautiful. The layered colour effect gives it a nice depth.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great save with the absolutely gorgeous peony! The soft grey elements are the perfect backdrop for this beauty! Anything more would definitely steal Ms. Peony's limelight! Perfectly balanced design...and yes, the butterfly stamp is fabulous! Gotta love those old, classic stamps - they never seem to go out of style! Thanks for sharing your gorgeous creation with us at the Card Concept Challenge :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is so striking with that big pop of red - stunning! As soon as I saw it in the Card Concept gallery I assumed it was from the Muse inspiration challenge - you should definitely enter it over there too!! http://musecardclub.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/muse-challenge-62.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kim, great to see you joining us at TIME OUT and STAMPlorations and I love this big flower and that is some awesome colouring x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Well, Blogger Friends is finely working so I can follow you!! LOL Your card is very elegant! I really like how you fussy cut your flower and mounted it over your image and the sentiment is wonderful too!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow Kim...you are so good with your coloring! That peony couldn't have been colored any nicer and for sure not by me! Love that super sized image...you are a very talented designer!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Very striking and so effective against the simple background :) Thanks so much for playing at Time Out!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Stunning! I love how you've made the peony 'pop' from the card with the bold red. Thanks for taking the TIME OUT and joining in on the challenge. Hugs Bev x

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous4/23/2014

    That peony is stunning against the white and gray base, Kim! I love it! Thanks for playing with us at Time Out and STAMPlorations :o)

    ~Shery

    ReplyDelete
  14. You deserved to win! Your card is lovely! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving me your comments. I really appreciate them!