Delicate Thistle Card and an Update

I received this Delicate Thistle die from Simon Says Stamp awhile ago in some happy mail. However up until this week, I hadn't had a chance to play with it. After seeing how pretty some die cuts looked just by inking them up with Distress Inks, I knew that was how I wanted to color these beautiful thistle die cuts. After I die cut them from white cardstock and embossed them, I followed the advice I saw online (or maybe in a YouTube video) somewhere and kept them in the negative space while coloring/inking them. That definitely was helpful and kept them from tearing. First I kept the die in place and inked with the darker pink through the die openings. Then the die was removed and a lighter pink and green inks were used on the rest of the die cut. I set them aside to dry while I worked on the rest of the card.

I heat embossed some white cardstock with some of the smaller "swirly" elements from the Always and Forever clear stamp set by Simon Says Stamp (it is my go-to set for so many occasions) with white embossing powder.  I then took the two pink colors I used on the thistles to ink up this panel.  I also inked up another piece of white cardstock with just the darker pink ink. Then I got out my circle dies and cut several circles in graduated sizes using Spellbinders Grand Circles, Standard Circles Large and Small and Picot Edged Circles. The sentiment was matted on the solid inked circle and then on the Picot Edge circle. The thistle die cuts were cut apart so that they could be woven into the openings in the Picot Edge circle. Tombow Multi glue was used to glue stems to the back of the circle and to glue some of the pink parts of the thistle to the sentiment panel. Other part of the thistles were popped up with 3D adhesive dots or foam squares. Some of the stems were left free to add dimension. The Picot circle was adhered to a green circle and then popped up using fun foam over the heat embossed/inked circle.

Some faux stitching added some extra interest to the green circles. The Picot Circle was accented with small rhinestones and the thistles were accented with clear Wink of Stella. An intact thistle die cut adds some interior decorating.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #281 - Layer It Up
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday Challenge - Use Something New (the Delicate Thistle die cut is new to me and so is the technique is using Distress Inks to color my die cuts)
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards Challenge #103 - Anything Goes
Sweet Stamps February Challenge - Anything Goes

UPDATES:

You may have noticed I have a new blog header. When I began blogging back in 2007, I primarily just scrapbooked. That was why I called my blog, "Steph's Scrap Happenings." Over the years, I've gradually become mostly a card-maker and paper crafter. Since I rarely scrapbook anymore and my online usernames revolve around my kitty, Sasha (aka Sasha Belle), I've decided to rename my blog Sasha Belle Designs. It's still going to look the same and I'll blog the same, it will just have a new name. I have also bought a domain name. If you want to share my blog with others, sending folks to www.SashaBelleDesigns.com is a lot easier than trying to remember the long blog address of www.StephsScrapHappenings.blogspot.com! Just a few small changes to stay technologically current. :)

I had a new watermark made to reflect my new web domain name. It was difficult to make that long blogspot address look nice on a watermark. When my friend Kathryne opened her new shop, Miss Daisy Stamps, and I saw she had custom watermarks, I was so excited. We've worked together the last few days and I am so happy with her Playful Kitty design. If you are in need of a new watermark, or adorable digis, I highly recommend you visit her shop. You won't be sorry. She is so easy to work with and does fantastic work!

In my last couple of posts I've mentioned using affiliate links. I belong to the affiliate programs at Amazon and Simon Says Stamp. Whenever you shop via one of these links, I receive a small commission at no cost to you. I greatly enjoy shopping at both of these sites and hope you will as well.

I'll link the products I used below. I hope you'll come back and visit again soon.

Simon Says Clear Stamps ALWAYS AND FOREVER Exclusive Set sss1012 *	Simon Says Stamp DELICATE THISTLE Craft Die S269 DieCember	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad WORN LIPSTICK Ranger TIM21513	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad SPUN SUGAR Ranger TIM27164
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad PEELED PAINT Ranger TIM20233	VersaMark Ink Pad	Ranger Inkssentials MINI MISTER Spray Bottle Tool IMMR13593	Uni-Ball Pen Signo Gel WHITE Two Pack 1919994
4" x 4" Clear Round Gemstones Sticker Sheet | Hobby Lobby | 607978	ink of Stella Clear Brush Tip Marker	Stampendous DETAIL WHITE Fine Opaque Embossing Powder DP100	Black 5mm Thick EVA Foam Sheet | Hobby Lobby | 330415
Spellbinders Picot Edge Circles	Spellbinders Standard Circles Dies - Small	Spellbinders Grand Circle Dies	Spellbinders Standard Circles Dies - Large
Georgia Pacific White Cardstock	Scotch Advanced Tape Glider (ATG)	Scotch 3D Pop Up Adhesive Dots	Scrapbook Adhesives 3D FOAM SQUARES Adhesive
Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two Applicators 62191	*03441 Fiskars PREMIUM CUT LINE Paper Trimmer 12 Inches	Dahle Self-Healing Cutting 18x12 Mat 10671	Cuttlebug Machine
Spellbinders Grand Calibur Machine

InLinkz.com