Creative Expressions Thursday

Hi Folks 

Today is Creative Expressions day as always and I have a really clean and simple card to show on the blog. 

 Sometimes when you have something pretty it is really nice to do the clean and simple thing and for me I find them harder than my usual style with lots of detail and many features to look at but I was recently asked to show some beginner tutorials on twitter so I thought Id do a week or easy to follow once this week and maybe every now and then as we all have our own style too don't we but it is good to be versatile so this is today's clean and simple Rosebud  Friend card.

As you can see it is pretty easy with just a few steps in order to get that nicely finished element that some clean cards do not seem to have sometimes to me and again this could be a personal opinion but some I feel like there is something missing like the finishing touches are just not there but like i say we all see things in a different way don't we, that's why we all produce different unique artwork. Anyway stop rambling on Kim and show the tutorial haha...

Here goes....

I took a small piece of Milk card about 31/2 by 4 inches and stamped my little sentiment and Rosebud onto it, The rose I think would work so well on a variety of cards like sympathy or wedding or valentines and anniversary , a rose bud is always beautiful on its own but equally there is another rosebud in the set that can be used to create a bouquet which I hope to do next week for you all, wish will need masking etc but good fun.

 Next I took a tumbled glass distress pen and very simply coloured in the first layer of colours on the bud, just as you layer your distress inks for backgrounds it is the same with the pens if you want to achieve a good blend and a nice finish with depth.I used two separate greens on the leaves and stem and left a light area on the stalk and areas on the leaves and petals as the light would definitely hit certain areas almost bleaching out the colour.I then matted than piece onto a mat of cornflower blue card but kept a think border and set aside.

Next I took a larger piece of Milk card about 51/2 by 61/2 inches and stamped one of the leafy edge stamps in the bottom left corner and then one larger leaf too. I again coloured that in using two separate green distress markers and a little white drawing ink in a wash over the top to create that foggy romantic feel. I also matted this piece onto the same blue card.

 I then went back to the first piece and added a 2nd layer of colour onto the rose and leaves can you see the different a slightly darker pen in the naturally shaded areas make on both the rosebud and leaves, in fact even the stem looks sharper and like its in better focus.
I again added a white ink wash over the leaves for that hazy look.

 I went back to the last piece with the leaves on the bottom left and added three pieces of slightly overlapped blue seem binding ribbon along the top. I then added some foam onto the back of the rosebud piece and added that onto this piece slightly off centre and partially covering the ribbon strips shown here.

While I was here I decided to add some stickles glitter glue to the bud but not the entire thing just a few lines in the shaded parts and a I love a blue rose it really gave a good twinkle. I used a different shade onto the other piece with the leaves too and set aside both to dry.

I decided to add a double mat of Milk card to  create a nice elegant backing to this clean card and so I kept a large gab with foam in between the two layers and the first piece I used my piercing ruler and a needle to pierce the edges all the way around this photo shows the piercing but also the layers throughout the card and whats gaps I  left etc so although nice and clean and simple there is still depth and dimension through out the card too.

I tied a three layer blue seem binding bow and glued it onto the top left and used one of the brand new dazzlers from the silver tone pack which has a slight hint of blue, in the pack they have a few different tonal hues which are simply gorgeous and a perfect size for covering bow knots.

 So this is how it looks all together in a full photo.

 And here is the main image again which finishes this one, See simple but still elegant , fairly quick but with lots of depth and dimension simply done in the colouring so the Rosebud Elements stamps by John Lockwood then speak for themselves.

Well folks I hope you have a great Thursday I often think of you all and wonder what you are up to and if you are all well.

Huge crafty hugs for you all

Best wishes

Your bloggy friend

Kim 

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