birthday peony...

Hello my fabulous friends!

I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday!  

So much has been going on, I'm looking forward to a relaxing day...

Paper: Strathmore Bristol Smooth; Prima Nature Garden

Stamps: Altenew Beautiful Peony; Gina K. Designs Always Autumn

Ink: Inkon3 Fadeout*

Coloring: Arteza Real Brush

Flower- A118, A124, A175, A137

Leaves- A154, A126, A120

Dies: LDRS Creative Eyelet Lace Rectangle; Kat Scrappiness Double Stitched Rectangle

Other: gold leafing

I just love this flower! There are lots of AMAZING companies who put out GORGEOUS flower stamps, but it's Altenew's specialty!  This stamp is so much fun to color! 

I decided to go with my Arteza markers, simply because I like their peach/coral colors better than the Zigs. I do, however, have a lot of trouble with the brush tips on the Arteza markers... they are longer than the Zigs, and a good number of mine don't hold a good point (they tend to separate into 2 points, or have random extra long stray bristles... and they have done that since the first time I took them out of the box, so it isn't that I don't take care of the brushes). Because of this, I rarely use my Artezas direct to paper... Instead, I color onto a palette, and pick up the color from there on a paint brush, and watercolor that way. 

For my sentiment, I wanted a nice metallic pop... So I stamped the sentiment in glue, and added some gold leafing. Once the glue was dry, I brushed off the extra leafing to reveal the sentiment. I don't do this very often, because it can be a bit of a hit-and-miss technique,  but sometimes I get brave because I really want that pop...

I wanted to keep this card fairly simple, yet add some depth and complexity to it as well.. So I decide to do something I don't do very often.. I die cut a busy collage style paper into a frame.  It turned out beautiful!  I'll be honest, super busy papers often intimidate me because I find them visually overwhelming... however, I really love how this turned out! 

What intimidates you in paper crafting? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to know that I'm not the only one who gets overwhelmed or intimidated by techniques or styles.... And if you do get intimidated, what do you do about it? Do you tackle it head on, ease into gently, or avoid it completely?

See you soon!
~Kassi

For more inspiration, follow me on:

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Youtube

*Affiliate links used when possible. This doesn’t affect the price you pay, it simply allows me to continue bringing you better content. :)