March Stamp 'N Hop You Are Loved Card

Hi! Welcome to the Stamp ‘N Hop blog hop! My name is Tracy Marie and I’m stamping with you from the Pacific Northwest (US). This month we are featuring our favorite items from the second release of Sale-A-Bration (available until March 31, 2018). I hope you enjoy my project, I include two YouTube videos demonstrating this project's techniques.  Be sure to visit all of the blogs to see everyone's awesome creations!

My two favorite items from the second Sale-A-Bration release are the Blossoming Basket Bundle and the Springtime Foils Specialty Designer Series Paper.

Starting from the bottom layer, the basketweave embossing folder which comes free with the Blossoming Basket Bundle is very detailed. To enhance that detail I rubbed on Soft Suede ink and misted the Crumb Cake cardstock with water prior to embossing. The resulting background came out great. It was trimmed to 4 x 5 1/4 and the edges were distressed with snips.

As an avid colorist, having the new Blends markers is such a treat. The video includes a demo of how I color. Light lights and very dark darks result in alot of natural dimension in a colored image. Each Blends color has a light and a dark marker, but don't stop there. The trick to achieve the lightest light is to envision the sun shining down on your image and leave a little area of white cardstock showing in that space (like the middle of the basket). To achieve the darkest dark, you can use a grey (either light or dark Smoky Slate) or the Bronze marker where there would be shadows. 

Beyond using color, another trick for even more depth is to add more focal layers. A second layer of roses were cut, colored and shaped using a small ball tool to give a rounded popped up look versus the traditional flat look. Because my hands make very poor fussy cutters, I try to not use them for that purpose. I have a second video link at the end of the main video for anyone curious about my alternative method of fussy cutting. 

I used the light Pink Pirouette Blend marker to color the ribbon, and added a strip of the silver lined foil from the Springtime Foils DSP as well as gold sequin trim. 

Here are all of the colors used from light to dark:

Flowers: bare whisper white cardstock, light and dark Pink Pirouette, light Smoky slate, dark Daffodil Delight centers

Leaves: light and dark Old Olive (the leaves were very small so two colors was plenty)

Basket: bare whisper white cardstock, Ivory, light and dark Crumb Cake, Bronze

The next blogger is -->Karen Pearmain

And here is the blog hop list:

Idonna Miller
Ilka Teschke
Tracey Gouraud
Kayla Adams
Joanne Hodge
Sandra Roberts
Melissa Tennison
Mo Rootes
Britney Vanderlaan
Tracie Evans Langley
Melissa Kerman
Georgia Gaydos
Shannon Cole
Lisa Kmiec
Amy Grendel
Jenn Charles
Laura Mackie
Eva Pottsova (Crafting With Angels)
Rachel Traudt
Laurie Meier
Susan Simpson
Kimberly Smith
Tracy Lewis<----You Are Here
Karen Pearmain
Christina Walker
Bobbi Miller
Danielle Kassing
Kirsten Aitchison
Sharleen Luciano
Rebecca Fellows
Arden Dougan
Linda Handford
Sharon Maranich
Mikaela Titheridge
Andre Gordon