Hydrangea for you

I'm back with another card featuring an alcohol ink background. This time it's the backdrop for a large die-cut hydrangea.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Thoughtful Branches, Inside & Out: Birthday (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Soft Sky card stock; transparent alcohol ink paper (YUPO)
Ink: Soft Suede; alcohol inks (Ranger)
Accessories: Beautiful Branches Thinlits dies, sparkling clear sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, paper piercer, Dimensionals
Other: Rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, gel plate (Gel Press)

Again, this background is one I made at a class a few months ago, and I don't remember all the specific how-to details. But I love the mix of blue, purple and brown shades that resulted from whatever I did!

For the focal image I waned to pull out some of the light purple from the background so I die cut the hydrangea flowers from Wisteria Wonder card stock. The flowers seemed a little flat, so to add a bit of dimension, I pierced the centers of some of the blossoms with a paper piercer. Then I went over the whole flower with clear Wink of Stella glitter to give it a subtle shine.

I cut the stem and leaves out of Soft Suede and Old Olive card stock, trimmed off the Old Olive leaves and glued them onto the Soft Suede piece. I left all the little "extra" pieces inside the leaves because I liked how it created the look of veins in the leaves.

I love to use pale blue as a card base for cards with flowers, and I was happy to discover that Soft Sky coordinated perfectly with my alcohol ink layer. I trimmed down that layer just a bit and adhered it to the card base about 1/2" from the left edge. I glued the skinny part of the stem piece directly onto the card base and used Dimensionals to pop up the leaves just a bit. I also used Dimensionals to attach the hydrangeas at the top of the stem. 

To finish the card front I stamped "For you" in the lower right corner using Soft Suede ink and added a sprinkling of clear sequins. I think these are my favorite sequins -- they add a fun, sparkly detail without detracting from the focal image on the card.

I used some of the leftover pieces I trimmed off the background by punching out a few tiny flowers. I added the flowers -- with sequin centers -- around the sentiment on the inside of the card. I don't always decorate the inside of the card to coordinate with the outside, but it does make a card seem just a little bit more special.

Thanks for stopping by!