Hello crafty friends! The rainy season continues in Japan, so I’ve got lots of time to stay in and colour! If you have a chance, please spare a thought or a prayer for the people in southern Japan who have been battling flooding and mudslides with all the rain. We’re safe here in Tokyo. The boys in the family are happily watching football streamed live from Australia tonight , so I’ve got some quiet time to myself to get blogging. I’ve got a card to share with you that is inspired by Altenew’s July Inspiration Challenge.

I can sometimes get into a bit of a colour rut, and although all the colours on this card are colours that I use regularly, I wouldn’t have thought to put them together!

This card uses images from the Vintage Flowers stamp set for the main image. I’ve used the cherry blossoms and stamped them in Apricot and Rosie Cheeks from Simon Says Stamp – both peachy colours. (I was very surprised to find that the famous cherry blossoms here in Japan are actually white, not pink! We do have pink blooms, but they’re not the main attraction. ) I die cut the shapes using the Vintage Flowers dies and the stamped onto the cut pieces. I find this is especially necessary for long thin images like the branch. If I stamp first, I always seem to bend the image so that the die won’t cut it neatly.

The background uses the Shine Like a Diamond Stamp set for the background. I fell in love with this stamp set when I saw it being used as the main feature of a card, but I love it equally as a subtle background. I stamped onto Neenah Solar White cardstock and heat embossed in Hero Arts white embossing powder before ink blending with Simon Says Stamp Seafoam and Lake Shores inks. I cut the panel slightly smaller than an A2 card using these Layered Rectangle Dies.

I’m trying to move across from foam tape to scraps of paper for adding dimension to my cards, so I popped a lot of the blossoms up with three layers of spare card left over from around where I cut the blossoms. The beauty of the card is that I can get a lot of variation of heights (if I remember – I’m so used to working with all or nothing that I forgot the possibilities for this card!)

The sentiment comes from an older stamp set called Circled Sentiments. I use these quite a lot as they make a lovely change from strip sentiments. I stamped this sentiment in Seafoam ink so that it would match perfectly with the background blending. Once the whole panel was done, I glued it to a card made from Lawn Fawn Sage cardstock.

I hope that you are finding some peace and flowers where ever you are at the moment, and most of all, I hope you are staying safe. If you have enjoyed this card and would like to see more, feel free to visit my Instagram feed here.

Until next time, may all your smiles be big!

Blessings,

Donna

These are the supplies I used. You can click on the link to shop. Where available, I have used affiliate links, which means that I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you so much for your support.

Neenah Solar White Classic Crest 80lb card Shop at: SBC	Pink and Main Layered Rectangle A2 Dies Shop at: P&M	Hero Arts White Embossing Powder Fine Detail Shop at: SBC | HA	Altenew Vintage Flowers die Shop at: SBC | Alt	Altenew Vintage Flowersstamp Shop at: SBC | Alt
Altenew Circled Sentiments Shop at: Alt	Altenew Shine Like a Diamond Shop at: SBC | Alt	Lawn Fawn Sage Leaf cardstock Shop at: SBC