Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #492 - Beautiful Friendship Card

Good morning, crafty friends!  Happy Friday.  Here in the US, we are getting ready to celebrate our Independence Day.  It is usually a weekend of picnics, barbecues, block parties and fireworks. In our area, fireworks are banned due to the risk of wildfires.  I am relieved, honestly, as the fireworks always upset the farm animals, and the dogs too.  

Today, I am sharing a card that I made to enter into the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #492.  I love square cards, but rarely make them, and I am not sure why.  I was really excited to see the sketch was a square!  

When I saw the sketch, I knew exactly which stamp set I wanted to use.   I started by embossing the poppy outline images in black.  I then stamped solid layers.  This was tricky, as it took some work to fill in the entire image, because the embossed edges interfered.  TIP:  Start with the colored layers and embossed the outline last.  This will ensure complete coverage of the stamped layers. 

Once I was happy with my floral images, I die-cut them using the coordinating dies and set them aside to work on my background panel.   I placed my largest white panel in my stamping platform and lined up a few of the small flower images, taking care to ensure that they were partly off the edge to give a more random background.  I then rotated my panel 90 degrees to make sure that the images would line up where I wanted them on all sides.   Once I was satisfied with how they would stamp, I inked them up with embossing ink and black embossing powder and heat set them.  Doing it this way made this a quick process.  I then lined up my images again to fill in the rest of the space and repeated the process.  Note:  Because I knew I would be placing a panel over the center of my card, I did not bother with embossing the center space, saving time and materials!  

I heat embossed my sentiment in white on a left over strip of black card stock and then trimmed it down just a bit.  When that was complete, I set about arranging my elements.  

I adhered my embossed panel to a 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" black card base.  I also adhered a 3" x 3" white panel to a slightly larger black panel and then attached them to my card front.  I struggled a bit with arranging my floral images (this always seems to be a challenge for me), so I looked at some card samples for inspiration and decided to focus them in the lower left corner.  I then attached my sentiment strip with foam tape.  Lastly, I added a few black rhinestones to draw the eye in.  

I really love how this card is simple (but not), yet makes a HUGE statement!  The coral flowers really stand out against the black and white backdrop! 

Products Used: 

• Recollections 110# Card Stock:  Black
• Neenah Crest 80# Card Stock:  Solar White 
• Altenew Build A Flower:  Poppy Stamps and Dies
• Altenew Crisp Dye Ink:  Forest Glade, Pink Pearl, Heart Beat, Industrial Diamond, Pure Graphite
• Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
• Stampin' Up Embossing Powder:  Black
• WOW! Embossing Powder:  Opaque Bright White
• Foam Tape

I hope that you have found something to inspire you and get the opportunity to spend some time getting crafty today.  Thanks so much for popping by.  Please leave me a comment and tell me what you think!  

If you are celebrating this weekend, please be sure to have fun and stay safe! 🇺🇸