Blossoms, a freebie and thrifty find.

I had a swap for July in Oriental Stamp Arts, the theme was blossoms and I thought this would be a  great opportunity to work on my Alcohol pen coloring. 

One card I made earlier and blogged about it:

The next card was a little bit different. It does have one thing in common: RED

I have also discovered red has a reputation for being difficult to handle in AP coloring.

You can see a significant difference in these blooms,  I like them both.

The first one I used shades of red only and it seemed a little flat to me, the second bloom I used BP's and CR's - blue pinks and coral reds.  Knowing these blossoms were going on a blue paper I knew the over all colors would work.  It also made me realize 168 colors might not be enough!

I created an easel to help with the coloring, I have some tendon damage in my hands that feels like Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.

This is an accordion file folder.  It gives me enough of a wedge shape to ease hand strain.  I store cheap water color paper in it to use as a blotter.

for my second card I printed two set of stems from this botanical print.

I changed the color a bit as I wanted it to work with the strange back ground I picked.

I really liked the blue and craft and thought this would make an unusual card.  I sure hope my swap partner likes it!

You can right click  this and save for your stash

Fussy Cut

because of the textured and metallic paper I used the old faithful glue gun for adhesion.

 A6 size mounted on Kraft colored packing board.

If you like craft paper , buying chip board sheets at uline is the way to go - 960 sheets for $43.00.  The same amount of paper would be $280.00 through Stampin up, and the uline is a heavier paper.  I do use a lighter weight kraft paper for direct stamping, but for bases weights, uline is the way to go.

Thanks for stopping by , I hope you have a great weekend!

Ginny M