{Spotlight Project} Maria Gathers a Bouquet of Sunflowers and Crystals

Howdy STAMPlorations friends! Can you believe it's already September? How about some pretty sunflowers today? Paired with crystals. Yep, crystals... check this out.

See the texture in the flower centers from the Nuvo drops? Let's see how I made this card.

STEP 1

Gathered my supplies - Sparkly stamp set, The Birds and the Blooms stamp set, white cardbase, Post Its for masks and Zig markers.

STEP 2

This is the easy step. Stamp two flowers. Stamp off each time to create a mask on the Post It.

STEP 3

This is the hardest step - fussy cutting the masks. Once I had the masks I could continue stamping. I wanted a grouping of five flowers.

STEP 4

Move the masks as necessary and stamp the crystal grouping where leaves would normally be peeking out from behind.

STEP 5

This is the most fun step. Remove the masks and see the results of the masking magic. And decide that your grouping of five flowers is a little too symmetric:( Oh well. Nestle a stamped sentiment into the bouquet and then heat set it all before coloring.

STEP 6

I decided to try some messy coloring with Zigs straight to my 300gsm cardstock. Went over the black centers with some brown. Then I chose three yellow/oranges and started to color. Put down the lightest color on the petals with messy strokes. Went in and put down strokes of the middle tone on the lines on the petals that are part of the stamped image (no-brainer!). Blended it all with another few strokes of yellow. And added a little ring of orange around the brown centers, blending it out with the yellow again.

STEP 7

Used my lightest blue Zig to add a bit of color to the crystals and immediately went over the strokes with my waterbrush to soften them a bit since I only wanted a hint of color.

Because I didn't like the way the flower centers looked when I was done - flat, after being colored with brown over the black stamping - it dawned on me to add tiny dots of black with Nuvo drops. Saved the day and added so much to the finished product!

Hope you enjoyed my non-conventional use of those crystals. There is actually a stamp out there somewhere mixing flowers and gems (don't remember whose) and that inspired me to give this a try. 

Should you find yourself placing an order soon, I'd love it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA code for an additional 20% off!

  

The Birds and the Blooms | Sparkly