Hello creative friends! It’s been a while since I’ve had the energy and motivation to be creative. I happened to see this Inspiration Challenge, and it was just what I needed to let myself reengage with the hobby that I love. Here is the link to this challenge on the Altenew Blog if you’d like to participate as well! And I hope you do!

First of all… come on! Who could resist a plate of delicious macarons and cappucino? Add in that beautiful teal blue plate, and you have a fantastic and interesting color palette, sure to catch your eye! The inspiration for this card came from the challenge, as well as the first floral Press Plate that I purchased for my new Spellbinders BetterPress System – the Altenew Blossoming Bouquet Press Plate. Please let me apologize for the lighting in the photos… it’s winter, and I just can’t catch a good time with the sun out! Everything thing looks a little dark no matter how much artificial light I try!

I wanted to use something different to ink the press plate. I didn’t think black would be the best for this design. I used a Lisa Horton Crafts Metallic Pigment Ink Cloud 9 ink pad in Solid Gold. I’m sure the Enchanted Gold or Antique Gold Pigment ink pads from Altenew would work just as well if you have them.

I placed the Altenew Blossoming Bouquet Press Plate on my BetterPress base, and inked it up with the gold pigment ink. Then I taped a piece of watercolor paper to the clear top plate, and ran it through my die cut machine. I left the watercolor panel taped in place while I colored the flowers and leaves.

I used Dew Drops and then Teal Cove to watercolor the flowers. The method I used was to press the mini ink cube onto my craft mat to squeeze out some ink, pick up the ink with a waterbrush, and then paint the flowers. The center of the flowers were colored with Peachy Glow. For the leaves, I used Grass Green and Firefly. After I finished coloring the flowers and leaves, I reinked the press plate, still in place in my BetterPress base, placed the cover plate on top (with the watercolor paper still taped in place) and ran it through my die cut machine again. This restamped the gold ink, making the outline crisp and clean again after the watercoloring.

Next I fussy cut the image. I noticed the flowers and leaves made an oval shape, so I cut an oval out of white to carry that theme, and give me a place to put the sentiments. I colored a piece of white cardstock with the Teal Cove ink to use for the Fancy Hugs Die, and chose a subsentiment from the Bad Days Happen Stamp set. To add some background texture and movement, I used the Dotted Waves Debossing Cover Die with a piece of colored cardstock, and layered than on a piece of cream textured cardstock from my stash. The light blue pearl embellishments were added for more dimension.

Thank you for stopping by my blog – I appreciate you! Give yourself permission to take care of yourself today and spend time doing what fills your heart! When your heart is full, there is more to give to others!

Altenew products used:
Altenew Blossoming Bouquet Press Plate
Altenew Dotted Waves Debossing Cover Die
Altenew Bad Days Happen Stamp set (sentiment)
Altenew Fancy Hugs Die
Altenew Fresh Dye Ink – Dew Drops, Teal Cove, Peachy Glow, Firefly, Grass Field

Also used:
Lisa Horton Crafts Metallic Pigment Ink Cloud 9 Solid Gold

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas Droplets (blue)