Playing!

I made a couple more cards for the Less is More challenge for no other reason than all my pink, green and grey stuff was out for the card I made yesterday and I wanted to 'play'! The first card really was inspired by the picture provided by Chrissie & Mandi for this week's challenge, I kept looking at it and trying to think how I could make some gerberas. As it happens I think they look more like daisies but that's sometimes what happens when you play, the end result not being quite the same as the picture in your head. I used the smallest flower on the Flower Daisies die, cut from Pink Pirouette and folded over, then punched the large flower shape with the Boho Blossoms die in Certainly Celery and cut it to make the base, the stems are just a strip of Certainly Celery gently teased around to give a curve. All the flower pieces were lightly inked with a sponge dauber to add a bit of depth. For the border I used the Sandy Speckles Wheel with Basic Gray then masked this and sponged over Pink Pirouette before positioning the flowers, added a knot of Pink Pirouette Taffeta ribbon and a sentiment from Happiest Birthday Wishes stamped in Basic Gray. Now onto my second card which really was playing!

In my kitchen I have a pot of pink hyacinths, bought for me by my daughter for Mothers Day and, again, I keep looking at them thinking how can I make something that looks like a hyacinth. So that's where the playing comes in, I took the flower stamp from Flight of the Butterfly, a Pink Pirouette stamp pad and a piece of Whisper White and stamped, then over-stamped until I was (reasonably) happy with the shape. I then added the stem using a stamp from Greenhouse Garden and some leaves with a stamp from the Build a Blossom set. The stem and leaves were given a touch of shading using a Crumb cake marker as they looked a little flat then the panel was matted onto Basic Gray and Pink Pirouette cardstock before placing in the centre of a plain white card blank with a knot of retired Basic Gray Taffeta ribbon added to the bottom corner. In hindsight I think it would have been better to have stamped the flower using a mixture of Pink Pirouette and the slightly darker Pretty in Pink as the 'hyacinth' does look a little flat and insipid but that's what palying is all about - I'll know better next time :0) 

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend, the sun is shining beautifully here but boy is it cold!!!!