Meadow Greens

Yesterday was all about "bright", "fun", and "celebration". Time to mellow it out today a bit with  peaceful meadow botanical elements from the upcoming release of "Meadow Greens" by Papertrey Ink. Just makes you want to take a deep cleansing breath and relax a bit at the very thought, doesn't it?

Nichole asked us to come up with some inspirational pieces from Pinterest for our two cards. Here's the first. I was drawn to the brown shading against the blue background and wanted to recreate that on my project.

Pinterest link here. Cannot find original source. 

I like to think I was pretty successful in achieving the look. My card is pretty much a direct copy of the inspiration piece. Why fight it? Freed up some brain power to think about adding the shading. 

A rarity for me, this card only uses one stamp set for both image and sentiment. "Meadow Greens" just inspires that treatment.

And here's a close up of my Queen Anne's Lace image. Both it and the fern are stamped with Fresh Snow ink on Aqua Mist cardstock. I took a very light blue Copic marker and started defining the individual clusters. Next, took a light brown Copic and added that "tea staining" look.  I  just kept going over it with both colors and eventually it all dried and mellowed out to this. Sort of undefined and watery. Like it.  Interesting that Copics can be so instrumental to a design even if they aren't being used to color something in. It was all about accenting.

For my next trick (ha!), I had some difficulty narrowing down my inspiration piece. Why not try to combine three different ones?

Took the two different colored ferns idea from this image... (Original source here.)

...added it to the idea of ferns over two columns of text and golden elements....(Original source here)

...and liked the idea of adding an orange butterfly...(Original source here)

...presto chang-o, abracadabra, POOF!!!....and I get this. I used "Sentiment Signs" to make my two columns, which I softened with vellum. One Classic Kraft rectangle got stamped with just one of the words from the stamp I used to make the background. Gold accents ("Mat Stack 6 Collection) highlight the sides. 

The ferns and dies (!!!!!) from "Meadow Greens" create a sort of nature study. And two butterflies from "Butterfly Dreams" add a bold spot of color. I like how it looks like it is a page torn out of a vintage nature book. Exactly the look I was going for. SUCCESS! 

And that is it from this little stamper. You can pick up "Meadow Greens" for yourself on July 15 at www.papertreyink.com.  There's more to see if you need to zen out some more,  just a click or two away...

Nichole Heady

Maile Belles

Jessica Witty
Dawn McVey
Melissa Phillips
Heather Nichols
Betsy Veldman
Cristina Kowalcyzk
Danielle Flanders
Ashley Cannon Newell

Supplies

Meadow Greens Blue Card
Stamps: Meadow Greens
Cardstock: Classic Kraft, Aqua Mist
Ink: Dark Chocolate and Fresh Snow
Button Twine
Burlap
Pinking Sheers Border die
Fresh Linen Button

Meadow Greens Book Page Style Card
Stamps: Meadow Greens, Sentiment Signs, Mat Stack 6 Collection, Butterfly Dreams
Cardstock: Rustic Cream, Classic Kraft, Limeade Ice, Spring Moss
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado, Simply Chartreuse
Dies: Meadow Greens and Butterfly
Vellum
Copics
Gold Filigree Embossing Powder