Peaceful silhouettes

On Thursday morning I went out to take a walk before work (I made it out every day this week. Yay, me!). At one point I realized that I couldn't hear any city sounds -- no traffic, no humming power lines, no droning air conditioners. Just a few birds singing and leaves rustling in the breeze. I stopped walking so I couldn't hear my footsteps on the pavement and closed my eyes. It was only a moment or two, but it was a peaceful way to start a busy day.

I wanted to make a peaceful card to reflect that feeling, and when I saw the Upsy Daisy Masked Butterfly video tutorial by Stampin' Up!^® demonstrator Tami White, I knew it would be the perfect technique. Here is my card:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Silhouette Sentiments
Card stock: Glossy white, Basic Black
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, So Saffron, Peach Parfait
Accessories: Window sheets, Labels Collection Framelits dies, sponge daubers, Elementary Ribbon Originals, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, pearls, Tombow Mono multipurpose glue, Dotto repositionable adhesive

I'm very pleased with how this card turned out, but it took me a few tries to get it right. On my first attempt I used Whisper White card stock. But I was having trouble sponging and blending the colors; I could really see the circle shape from the sponge daubers, which I didn't like. So I decided to switch to glossy card stock.

My first try with the glossy card stock worked fine. But when I removed the mask, some of the adhesive was left stuck to the card stock. I got out my adhesive remover, but for some reason that just created smears on the glossy card stock.

So the third time was a charm. Well, almost. I did end up with a few mistakes on this card, but I was able to cover them up with embellishments. A few of the flowers I stamped didn't come out very well, so I adhered punched flowers with pearl centers over them. (I think I like the extra dimension better anyway.) I also somehow ended up with a smudge of Peach Parfait ink on the bottom part of the card, which I covered with ribbon and a bow. (To make the bow, I took a piece of ribbon and adhered the ends together to make a loop. Then I wrapped another piece of ribbon around the loop and adhered the bow to the strip of ribbon on the card front.) To finish the card I stamped a greeting and added a few more pearls.

I hope you are able to find a few peaceful moments in your day. Thanks for stopping by!