When a plan goes awry
Posted: October 17, 2018 Filed under: Christmas berries, dancing daisies, gift card pocket, winter branches | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 10 Comments
Today’s card was the result of a thought I had after making a Christmas themed card featuring the berries seen on this one. The Penny Black berry stamp is called ‘Christmas berries’ so it is hardly surprising that I made a Christmas card with them but I wanted to see if I could put them to use in a non-Christmas card too.
I started by stamping the dancing daisies in blue, purple, green and yellow (they were all distress inks and I will make a guess at them in the list below but once again I didn’t write them down). After stamping I blended the petals and leaves with water and a paint brush. I masked the daisies as I had saved masks from a previous project, stamped the berries in pinky, purply colours so they wouldn’t look Christmassy and blended again with water.
Finally I added some ‘winter branches’ in brown ink. This is where my plan started to unravel. I didn’t want to mask all those berries and flowers to put the winter branches in the background so I stamped them over the top and blended them with a paintbrush also. With the blending they became more prominent than I wanted; without the blending they looked badly stamped because I was working on textured cold pressed watercolour paper.
I finished off the panel with some dark brown splatter then moved onto another project undecided whether to turn this one into a card or not. When I came back to this panel later I decided to break up the dominance of the brown winter branches with a sentiment panel. I used a die from the gift card pocket set to cut a decorative shape from hot pressed watercolour paper and adhesive backed foam then stamped a sentiment from the banner sentiments set. I ended up liking the idea and the colours of this card but it’s not my best layout.
Supplies
Stamps: dancing daisies, Christmas berries, winter branches, banner sentiments (all PB)
Inks: blueprint sketch, dusty concord, fossilized amber, forest moss, festive berries, gathered twigs distress inks & monarch versafine clair
Paper: cold pressed watercolour paper, hot pressed watercolour paper
Die: gift card pocket (PB)
Tools: adhesive backed foam, Misti
Heather Telford 
“Masking” is a dirty word to most cardmakers, comforting to know it’s not a professional’s favorite either. The unique colors of this piece make the berries and flowers stand out beautifully……stems, phooey!
Phooey indeed! Thanks for your encouraging comment; I think the colours are the stars on this one.
I love the mix of colours with the really pretty lilac flowers which complement the purply red of the berries Heather, and the beautiful shaped sentiment mat across the middle has done what you intended and broken up the darker tones with the white of the tag. x
Yay for berries for any occasion! They are too pretty to limit to Christmas. I love this card and the colors.
Oh I love this card Heather. It’s fresh and exciting. Your plan may have gone awry but the finished piece is brilliant. The sentiment works so well and I am with the previous commenter…berries for any occasion!
What a beautiful fall arrangement, Heather! Love those daisies with the berries and the sentiment piece is a perfect fit!
While I understand your views on this card, I see a dead bush in the foreground, with beautiful flowers and leaves peeking through. I title this card “Hope”. Beauty amid ashes. It has reminded me of hope just when I needed it. Thank you Heather for sharing!!!
Hi Janet,
Thank you for your thoughts on this card; it makes me happy to hear it was just what you needed. If you would like to send my your address with the ‘contact me’ button, I’d love to send you the actual card.
Great card
it’s beautiful.. I do not doubt that… it’s so difficult to go looser a little bit Heather!? hehe