Red & Orange?

I logged on to the Less is More site, as is usual for me on a Saturday morning, to find that the challenge this week is based on bonfire flames - Red & Orange.

This caused me a slight problem as normally these are the last two colours that personally I would put together, but one of the reasons that I love the Less is More site so much is because it really does make me challenge myself. This is definitely one of those weeks where I am actually quite pleased with the finished result (doesn't happen often!)

I started by thinking how I could tone down the orange which I wanted to use as my background and decided to do the 'Mother of Pearl' technique with Pumpkin Pie (more on this below if you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about) onto Whisper White and stamped the sentiment from Happiest Birthday Wishes in Cherry Cobbler - a set reserved for hostesses but already one of my favourites. I mattted this onto a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock and tied some of the gorgeous Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding around before fixing to a 5"x7" plain white card blank. Onto the flowers, which are a stamp from Everything Eleanor, stamped in Cherry Cobbler and then Pumpkin Pie added with a blender pen. The stamens were coloured with a Chocolate Chip marker and a small circle of Cherry Cobbler cardstock and a pearl added to the centres. After cutting the flowers out I curled the petals to give a slightly raised effect before adding to the side of the background.

Now onto the Mother of Pearl technique for those of you who are interested! Lots of tutorials can be found online for this but basically it is using SU's Frost White Shimmer paint, dabbed onto a piece of cardstock with some scrunched up clingfilm. Allow the paint to dry naturally, or use your heat gun to speed up the process, before sponging over with your chosen ink colour (Tip - I use a sponge dauber with a lot of the ink taken off on a piece of scrap paper to allow me to build up the colour gradually). Once you are happy with the depth of colour wipe all over with a dry tissue to remove excess ink from the Shimmer Paint. As this does not show up to well on the photo of the card I took a close up of the finished piece of cardstock which is shown below.

 

Apologies for not getting round to visiting many people at all for last week's challenge - it was just one of those week's, but a big thank you to everyone who visited me and especially those who took the time to leave a comment. I do read every one of them and I really do appreciate it.

Hvae a good weekend and I'll be back soon x