Because I Care

This evening I would like to share this card I made for my Mum's birthday using the delightful Because I Care hostess stamp set and the new Texture Plate from Stampin' Up! that you will find in the Summer Mini.
The colours I have put together are probably my favourite combinations in Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry, I have also added some accents with Blushing Bride.
 To get the lovely soft colour in the hydrangea, I first stamped the image onto Very Vanilla card stock using Old Olive on the stem and Blushing Bride on the flower head. Taking my aqua pen, I then light swirled over the whole flower head image which just softened off the lines and allowed the colour to bleed into the petals. Next I took my stamp-a-ma-jig and carefully lined up the image, this time inking up the flower head only in Rich Razzleberry. Again using my aqua pen, I blended some of the colour from the flower centers out into the petals. This just gave the flower some depth, but be careful not to let it get too wet or you begin to loose the crisp outline of each flower and that gives the whole image a blurry kind of look.
I used Blushing Bride and Rich Razzleberry to blend the edges of the card stock. I layered this onto a piece of Old Olive which I scalloped down one side.
I love the new texture plate, it almost gives your card stock a fabric kind of look. I have ran a piece of Rich Razzleberry through the Big Shot and sponged the edges of both that and the DSP i have layered it on. This all got added to the Old Olive card base. A piece of ribbon from the mistletoe bonus that was available in the Dress Up Christmas Promo and what you see is the end result.
No card is complete without a lovely center, so I used the single petal and the leaves off the flower, the sentiment is from the Every Moment stamp set, which by the way, my Mum loved the saying.
I have you have fun playing with this idea.

Cheers Dani xoxo