Paper Lantern Flower

Yay - finally got some stamping play time late last night! I've had a half sheet of beautiful Asian-inspired images by I Brake For Stamps sitting on my desk, calling out to me, all week long. If you like the stamps used on this card and you go looking for them, the sheet just so happens to be on the 'Specials' page over on the site!!

(click photo for more detail)

I thought the Technique Junkie Paper Lantern technique from the Oct 04 issue would be perfect for this set of stamps. I like that the flower is just bold enough to hold it's own among the crimping.

*tip*

If you know you're going to crimp your cardstock, try to trim it to the size you need first, because I have found cutting after crimping can stretch out the edge just enough to make it look out of proportion.

I used Twinkling H2O's on the main image, including some champagne color around the image, to add very subtle shimmer. Even tho the technique calls for black ink on the ridges, I needed a softer look so I added some Ranger Archival Inks Sepia without going over the main image. The butterfly was colored loosely, with alot of water on the brush, and then trimmed closely and outlined with a drier brush and coppery-brown. I attached it using Glue Dots strips, just along the body, so that in real life it's very 3D. I used Stampin' Up's Natural cardstock, which is pretty heavy weight, for the main image panel and the butterfly, so it's very sturdy.

To make the frame I just cut strips on an angle and then smeared Staz-On Timber Brown ink from the pad along the edges, getting more on in spots for interest. The green panel is crumpled, smoothed and then gone over lightly with a Distress Antique Linen pad to accent the creasing. For the main back panel I used Brilliance Galaxy Gold to repeatedly stamp the symbol. Just layer together onto a piece of burnt orange cs, adding small gold brads to the corners, and it's done!

Here's hoping your weekend is a really great one!!