TGIF – Sneak Peek + Sunny Sunflowers with Dawn

TGIF! Dawn is here today with some beautiful and heartfelt inspiration, but before we get to that, we have a sneak peek to share! We’re getting ready for the release of our newest collection called Breath of Spring, coming to the shop next week! Here’s a peek of a few of the goodies headed your way…

I can’t wait to share all of the details with you next week! Now let’s hear from Dawn…

Hello, Friends!  As I was pondering what to make for this week’s TGIF post for The Greetery, I had been wanting to use the watering can from Sprinkled With Kindness, because it’s just so cheery and hopeful, reminding me that Spring — and my own garden and watering cans — are soon on the way!  But, I also felt compelled to pull out the BotaniCuts Sunflower dies and use them along with the blue and yellow color combo we’ve been seeing all over the internet, in support of the people of Ukraine.  What’s been happening is heartbreaking and has had me praying fervently.  I decided what better time than now, to create some beauty inspired by the brave Ukranian people.

 Lately, I’ve really enjoyed choosing a color palette and some stamps and dies to work with, and then creating coordinating cards.  It’s so fun to do and it’s an efficient way to craft, since you’ve already gotten all of those supplies out.  Might as well use them in a few different ways! I started out with a yellow card stock to die cut the sunflowers from.
 

PRO TIP: Even if you don’t have the “right color” of card stock that you need for your project, starting with a color close to it and then blending on ink, allows you to still achieve the desired color without having to start all the way back at white card stock.  What I mean by that is, in this case, my yellow wasn’t quite sunflower yellow.  It was a bit different shade than I wanted.  I used it anyway though, and just blended ink on top, to warm it up to just the right shade.  I could have achieved the same color with white card stock and ink, but it would have taken more ink and more effort to blend on that rich of a color.  Just a little time saver tip for you!

 
This watering can is the perfect image for using my old stand-by trick of stamping ink off first on card stock before stamping on the actual die cut.  When you do that with each layer, you get that worn, weathered, almost vintage look that I love so dearly!  The one exception is that top detail layer, and that one, I stamped at full strength.
 

Visit my blog for several more Pro Tips for these cards, today!
 
Dawn