Black Eyed Susan for Emily

This is the birthday card that I "Finally" finished for my daughter's birthday, which was in Sept :o(  

There are some things that you just cannot rush and ART is one of those "things". Not to mention, I was waiting on the good ole postal system to deliver my new stamp sets.  Emily loves this particular kind of flower and had asked me specifically to purchase the "Inspired by Nature" set..........  Good thing she was in Germany for her birthday so that I didn't look like such a horrible mother.  

Since running down to the local craft store is NOT an option, I had to get creative when it came to my flower.  All I had on hand, in the large ones, were white....  I remembered a tutorial that my fellow cyber friend, Laura, had posted over on her blog (www.scrapnextras.com)  I have used her watercoloring techniques several times recently and apparently it is a "learned" technique.  

I ended up pulling the color directly from the watercolor crayon in order to achieve a deeper color.  I also used the crayon and colored a little down the center of each petal and over onto one side but not the entire petal.  I have added a photo to show you the tools that I used.  

The base of the card is Kraft cardstock with inked edges. I stitched a green printed paper onto this and stamped the grass first with mellow moss ink stamped the flowers with close to cocoa.  The Flocked striped paper tore as I was removing it from the pad so I just went with it and tore the rest, inked the edges and stitched it onto my card.  The most time consuming part of this card was trying to decide what to use for the center of my flower in order to give it that "black eyed" look.  Ultimately I ended up stamping the center of the largest flower, cutting it out and adhering it to the back of my flowers.  

The leather frame is actually flipped to the "wrong" side to give it more texture by using the suede look instead of the smooth leather.  I stamped the smallest flower and the tops of the grass onto a piece of scrap Kraft CS and adhered it to the back of the frame.  

Now for the fibers, I went through my stash of scraps.  I keep so many of the little ribbons and cords that are now coming on new clothes tags.  Does anyone else do that?  Do you also save the tags "Just In Case"????   Not sure if you can tell but the one that was a cord was orginally not frayed but was also a bit lighter.  I placed it and a few other items into our pot of coffee, swished them around and laid them outside to dry. 

The little tag was stamped then a 1/2 " circle punched and wrapped in half over the edge and an eyelet was set to give it a more completed look.  I tied the tag around the other fibers with a little piece of linen thread.  I also stamped the inside of the card with the same flowers in a different color along with a quote to give it a more boutiquey feel.  

That wraps it up for me. I am completely beat since I was up at 4 am for the PTI monthly release party.  See ya tomorrow.

............................................................Recipe..................................

paper: Kraft, chocolate chip (SU), Coastal culture flocked (Me&My Big Ideas)

ink: close to cocoa, chocolate chip, mellow moss (SU)

stamps: Inspired by Nature (SU), text boxed & out on a limb (PTI)

tools: 1/2 circle punch (Marvy Uchida), 1/8" hole punch (SU),

misc: watercolor crayons, soft subtles (SU), leather frame (making memories), prima flowers, misc fibers & ribbons