The big flower

Back again! :)
I've been busily playing with a new Hero Arts stamp of a large flower. So far I've gotten 3 1/2 cards done (not quite finished on the 4th - but I'm sure you know how that is!) and I'm still loving it. I thought I'd show off the first two - see what you think!
This first one was kind of an experiment with colored pencil over textured card stock. I didn't go as well as I planned, in fact I had to pull out the OMS to get smoother looking coverage. That's OK though, I do like how it came out in the end. After I colored the flower I used an embossing tool and puffed up the petals and the very center. Once they were puffy I went back and really defined the edges and the yellow stripes by pushing down on them.
At first I wanted to leave the cut out area, well, cut out. But the base just didn't have enough strength to hold itself up. I also thought about using some acetate, but decided on this dark brown. One of the hot color combos lately has been blue with brown - I changed it up! :)
I also did some accents with Stickles (distress ones in Antique Linen I believe) over the yellow/orange pencil. I know the brown looks almost black - but the outline of the flower, the sentiment and the cut out area are all a nice brown IRL. On this one I added some faux stitching at the very end, unlike the real stitching on the next one!
This second card is one that I'm very proud of! I almost sent it to my friend Lauren (hi Lauren!) but decided to send her something more out of the box (it may hit here mailbox yet... we shall see!). This was a background done with a variety of Distress ink colors and a blending tool. Then I spritzed water on the craft mat and stamped the script background into it then on the paper. After I did that several times (my script stamp is about 1/4 of the size needed) I hit it with a heat tool to set the ink. I stamped the flower over the top (in brown Staz On again) and colored it in with a white prisma pencil. I *love* how it still shows the underlying colors but makes them look like ghosts.
After the flower was colored in I used another Distress Ink (Walnut?) to stamp the same script over where the water had 'bleached' it. (then I had to wipe the DI off the pencil - sheesh, a little forethought would have been nice!) A little bit of Picket Fence Distress stickles in the middle of the flower added the necessary bling. I used the same brown ink to stamp a portion of a stamp on the ribbon. Finally I used a single strand of white embroidery floss all around the outside. Boy, for someone who doesn't sew, I've been doing a lot of it lately! Once again this dark brown card stock (used for the base) shows up almost black in the picture. *sigh* I'm still working on my PSE skills. Yes, skills. They aren't mad enough to be skillz yet! ;D
Here's a closer look at the flower. I just *love* how this looks! I'll have to do it again (and again...).
Thanks for dropping by!