Serene Silhouettes

Good morning friends.  Have a simple little notecard to share with you today, and going to tell you a little about what inspired this card for me.  The stamp set I used for my card is SU!'s "Serene Silhouettes" and the images in this set remind me of when I was a young girl and my Girl Scout troop took trips to the Blanchard Nature Center.  Now I am by no means a "nature girl" who likes to get out and hike and such (too much exercise and unfortunately that's just not me!), but I can most definitely appreciate the beauty of nature.  So when we went on these field trips, my favorite part of the trip was at the end when we got to go into the gift shop.  One of the same things I bought over and over again there were these little notecards by a Michigan artist named Gwen Frostic, and I loved everything about them!  I loved the paper they were printed on (handmade where you could see all the fibers in it!!) and I LOVED the nature prints - so very delicate and simple.  You can check out this website here to learn more about Gwen and what inspired her (and order if you fell in love with her nature inspired products like I have!!). 

So anyway, one of the images in particular in the "Serene Silhouettes" set is what reminded me of Gwen Frostic and inspired this card.  Take a look:

 
I started with a base of Bashful Blue cs, layered with a piece of black, and then another layer of Bashful Blue which I stamped with SU!'s "Weathered" background stamp.  If you click to enlarge the photo you can see that weathered look better and also see that the black banner has been embossed with a woodgrain embossing folder.  For the main image I stamped on white cs (Gina K), using a SU! Real Red marker first to color in the birds, and then a black marker to color in the branches. ( I colored directly onto the stamp and then stamped onto the cardstock.)  Next I used a sponge and sponged in the background with SU!'s Bashful Blue ink.  After cutting out the image with a Spellbinders circle die, I attached a small red grosgrain ribbon with a tiny silver brad and then attached to the card base.  A very simple card, but I was very pleased with the way it came out and the memories it evoked while making it! :0)

Well I'm back to the drawing board next, trying to figure out how to line up a stamp set I bought last fall from PTI.  It's the "Delightful Dahlia Additions" set and they are absolutely beautiful 3 step flowers, but I can't for the life of me get the smaller flower lined up right and it's driving me nuts!  I have a card in mind and it won't come together unless I can get the flowers right...grrrrrrr!  Yes I'm anal about stuff like that, and where most people would just say "whatever", I no can do!  So hopefully the card will be worth it once I figure it out (and I will!!) and I'll be able to tell myself it was worth the time and effort! :0)  In the meantime, you all have a wonderful Friday and weekend!