Birthday Card | Graciellie Design - Vintage Peonies | Guest Designer

 

Hello and happy Friday!

I'm excited to say that I've been invited back to join the Graciellie Design Team as a guest designer for the month of July! I'm doubly excited because the images include lots of peonies, which happen to be one of my favorite spring flowers! My grandma always had peonies growing near her fence by the railroad and I remember smelling them as a small child and getting a nose full of black ants! They do love the sweet nectar of the peony flowers! My first card this month is using the main flower cluster from the NEW "Vintage Peonies" Digital Stamp Set. This gorgeous set features so many wonderful images and I really like the word pairings on the sentiments!

I always start by designing the layout in a PowerPoint presentation; this allows me to get the sizing right on all of the elements and play with the placement! Once I get a rough design of something I like, I copy that image onto a separate slide and print it on 100# white card stock. This is an A7 (5" x 7") card base and so the main floral is pretty large, which made it super easy (and fun) to watercolor. 

I fussy cut the finished floral and set it aside. Next I created a mixed media background starting with two of my Brushos Colour Crystals. I taped a piece of the same 100# white card stock onto a heat-resistant cutting board with painter's tape and wet down the surface thoroughly with water. Then the page was dusted with just a bit of the Crimson powder and sprayed with Shimmer Mist. I let the color bleed all over the sheet and dabbed the excess runoff with a paper towel. I added a bit of the Leaf Green Powder around the edge using this same technique. When I got the coverage I liked, I used my heat gun to dry the sheet on the cutting board. The panel was spattered with gold and opaque white paint and dried again with the heat gun. 

After the surface was dry, I used Hero Arts' Unicorn White Ink and randomly stenciled a pattern onto the background to add a bit of texture. This softened the overall intensity of the color and added some extra interest. I cut my favorite part of the panel to fit the card front and adhered it into place. Several sentiments were printed in different sizes and die cut. Then I played with the placement of the design elements and added a vellum leaf die cut behind the peonies. Once the layout was figured out, everything was attached in place and I added a few sequins to finish up the card!

I can honestly say that this is one of my favorite floral cards I've ever made and it's going to my Great Aunt Phoebe for her 98th birthday! The new peony cluster is so beautifully drawn and I really like the accompanying sentiments. The rest of this July's Digi Releases are equally fantastic so be sure to head over to Gracie's Shop for all of the details!

Thanks so much for joining me today and happy crafting!

Rachelle ♥

CHALLENGES:

The Crafty Addicts - 03 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday - Weeks 603-604

Try It On Tuesday - Summer Blooms 

Crafting Happiness Challenge - July 144 - Anything Goes

Crafts Galore Encore - #113 - Anything Goes

Creations in Pink - #59 - Anything Goes in MAINLY PINK

Stamping Sensations - July Challenge 2023 - Summer Flowers

We Love Stamping - July Challenge - Fabulous Florals