Stripes, Damask, and Roses

Today is the monthly Papertrey Ink blog hop.  (linked above)  One of my 2012 stamping goals is to participate every month and so far this year I have succeeded!  I also just realized that I have already surpassed last year's total posts and it's only April.  I'm quite proud of myself!  Here's to a year full of stamping adventures!

Just like last month, the PTI blog hop is an inspiration challenge.  (click photo for credits)  I really love the soft vintage fabrics in the picture, not to mention the pretty pastel colors.  I started my card by stamping stripes on my white card base, and then attached a strip of stamped damask at the bottom.  Both were done in Spring Rain ink.  I used my Swiss Dots embossing folder for the narrow strip of white cardstock.

The most time consuming part of the card was cutting out all the flowers and leaf sprigs.  I stamped the rose with Hibiscus Burst ink on white cardstock.  The other flowers were stamped with the same ink on the matching cardstock to get a delicious two color effect.  The inspiration for that came from one of the floral fabrics in the picture.  The leaves were stamped with Lucky Limeade ink on white cardstock and then painstakingly cut out with a craft knife.  I definitely need to add the matching dies to my next PTI order.  It took way too long!

As a last little touch, I added small light pink rhinestones to the center of the two-tone flowers.  I considered adding some glitter to the roses, but by then I had already glued everything to the card.  Next time!  I used a sentiment from Women of Life to finish it off. Voila - a sweet Mother's Day card!

(one little side note:  my printer rendered the pinks a much softer hue, thus my pinks are not quite as bright as the inspiration photo shows on screen)

Stamps:  Garden of Life, Distressed Stripes, Damask Designs, Turning a New Leaf, Women of Life (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White, Hibiscus Burst (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Spring Rain, Hibiscus Burst (Papertrey Ink); Lucky Limeade (Stampin' Up); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Misc:  rhinestones (Studio 18); Swiss Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug)