Autumnal Beauty...

Hello again everyone!!  :)

Well, I can't quite believe I have made it back three times in one week, but here I am with the card I made over the weekend for my step-mum's birthday, which was inspired by several challenges including the sketch and theme at Sugar Nellie :) I've used one of their gorgeous stamps which I got a couple of months ago with my step-mum's card in mind, as she's very interested in historical things and especially Tudor and Stuart times...  well, I only needed a little excuse as I didn't have any of the lovely Leanne Ellis stamps and they're so gorgeous and stylish... took me ages to decide which one I'd get, though!!  :)

I started out with the sketch and the CAS theme in mind but somewhere along the line the CAS part kind of got away from me a little!!lol And don't ask me what happened with the colours as this was totally not the colour-scheme I had in mind when I started – think regal blues and purples with maybe a dash of teal… hmmm, not quite how it came out then!!  ;)

{{  Please excuse the poor photo... it's virtually impossible to get a decent shot of something so shimmery and this doesn't do the gorgeous colours of the paints justice at all as it did look better irl!! :S  }}

I heat embossed the lovely image with the gold sparkly powder (made myself to by mixing gold powder with fine gold glitter – works a treat and you have total control over the amount of sparkle you want!! :) ) and then coloured her with my Twinkling H2O and Cosmic Shimmer watercolours as I thought the beautiful, rich colours and shimmer would suit the opulence of the image and embossing :) I added some shading with a dark brown H2O, too, which is something I've not tried before with watercolours but I like it :)

I die-cut some flowers, then spritzed them with a Mini Mister filled with the water from the pot I used to rinse my brushes whilst painting the image... I've done this before and have a little mister of pearly sparkles from a Wedding image I painted a month or so ago on my desk, too- there's just so much lovely mica left in the bottom of the pot that it seems wrong to waste it!!lol After that was dry- and I'd nearly burnt a hole in the sheet of paper I had them on with my heat tool as I was being impatient!! Ooops- just glad I didn't set the smoke alarm off!!lol- I overstamped a scroll onto them with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo DIs and inked the edges.  Then I added some Antique Linen Distress Stickles – I LOVE this stuff!! :) – to the edges of the card and flowers, just smeared on with my finger!!  ;D

The greeting is a Cat's Life Press stamp and it is sooo gorgeous- simple but interesting, if you know what I mean?! ;) - and is also embossed :)

Then the CAS bit started unraveling as it just didn't seem to look right with just the couple of pale swirls I'd planned to stamp as foliage coming from behind the flower... too plain for the luxurious image, I think!! So, I went a bit mad with the swirls and then inked the edges, too!! :) Personally, I think it is still CAS as there's no matting and layering and minimal embellishment but I know some of the stricter CAS-loving ladies out there will say the lack of white space means it doesn't pass muster... good job the theme's optional then!!lol

The List:

• 6" Sq. cream card blank
• Gorgeous image 'If Only' by Leanne Ellis from Sugar Nellie
• Versamark ink pad, gold sparkle embossing powder and heat tool
• Twinkling H2O and Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints
• Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die
• Homemade shimmer mist
• Viva Decor swirl stamps
• Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Inks
• Antique Linen Distress Stickles
• Gold flat-backed pearls

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: The Sugar Bowl - sketch by Maria Therese and optional theme of CAS (which I may or may not have followed, depending on your viewpoint!! ;) ) :) ; Sarah Hurley - Misting :) ; OSCC - No DPs :) ; Bows & Berries- Colour Challenge (I have yellow/gold, orange, brown and a touch of green) :) ; Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes :)

So, it kind of took on a life of its own but I really enjoyed getting off my beaten track and making such an unusually coloured and different card :) I'd love to know what you think as I'm often unsure about things when they are so far from my norm!! :) I also made some little earrings to go with it so will try to share those soon-ish... but here's a sneaky peek for you...  :)

Thanks for all the lovely comments on my last cards- I'm still struggling with leaving comments because of energy levels and some pain in my hands again (thank goodness my Speech Recognition software has decided to behave or I'd not have got this done!! :) ) but I am still checking out your posts from my phone (which also makes it harder to comment as a lot of blogs seem to crash the internet on it :S) and am very grateful for all the fab inspiration you share!! :)