Off to England...

Our neighbor, Vic,  has a sister in England that will be 95 on January 28th! We have met her a couple of times and feel sad that they will probably not visit each other again due to the difficulty of traveling at advanced ages. He will be 94 in July and is now in assisted living nearby. This is my card for her birthday...

The stamp set is Altenew's Vintage Roses, and boy do I need more practice with this set! The clear stamps are arranged in sets on the packaging so that three or four stamps make one flower. Each layer will add to the completed flower. I really didn't know enough to be intimidated when I purchased it! Was so glad to visit the website and watch a video as well as use the guide for how to layer the stamps to create the best look.

So until I get better at it, I used two of the stamps and watercolored the rest of the flower! These three flowers used only one of the sets, and only two of the stamps in the set... Still I couldn't quite master the technique... I used Strathmore watercolor paper 140# for the top layer and masked off a border before stamping.

The leaves are included... and need more work too! The colors are SU Poppy Parade and Melon Mambo, the greens are SU Certainly Celery and Gumball Green. The water helped some of the blending look more real. I also did a light backwash of Broken China Distress ink around the bouquet.

The greeting is SU Curly Cute stamped with Staz-on Black. I think Gracie will like the card, and the fact that I made it with her in mind. I don't think she'll be too critical of the artwork ...