Craft Break: Three Sunflowers

The craft break continued yesterday....until about three in the afternoon, when Sam came back from cross country camp with a carload of dirty, smelly laundry. Ah well. Those two and a half days smelled pretty good!

The heat this week has made the basement craft room extra special. Jemma follows me down and plops herself on the cool laminate hard woods to take a nap while I listen to podcasts and craft.

I recently got the Sunflower Cover Plate from Papertrey Ink's going-out-of-business-maybe-we-really-don't-know-what-we-are-doing-one-day-to-the-next sale. (whew! That was a mouthful!) Yesterday, I sat down to make three versions with this die.

For the first version, I cut out the die with black card stock. Then, I grabbed some Strathmore watercolor card stock, and did some ink blending with three colors.

Then, I used a lightly wet brush to drag the color down the card stock. I wanted the background to look like a sunset, with the sunflower in dark shadow.

And here it is! Sentiment was from PTI Summer Hills.

For the next card, I cut the die with Kraft card stock. Then, I tried ink blending on a piece of white card stock. I wish I'd used watercolor card stock later. Oh well. The blending didn't add enough wow, so I decided to start adding watercolor, using the cutout die as my guide.

Then, I added more blending with a wet brush. This would have worked better with watercolor paper. I had to let it dry overnight, then really rub it flat with a bone folder. Finally, I decided to glue the panel onto the card front, and really rub it flat with the bone folder. It helped.

I liked this Blessed die cut with the image. It's a softer, water-colory palette, and I like it.

This is a really good time to mention that this pokey tool from Stampin Up (circa 2003? It's part of an old tool kit I got when I was a demo!) is invaluable with this die. I might try to use a metal shim next time, but this time the pokey tool and foam pad really helped to get all the little seeds of the sunflower out.

For the last card, I decided to keep the "seeds". I kept this card soft and subtle, with a white diecut flower on a kraft background and a kraft Tiny Tag sentiment.

Three sunflowers for summer occasions!

Stay cool, my cafe friends!