Leafy Branch and Lotus Blossom

Do you ever make and card and just have so much fun? I always enjoy stamping, but some cards are exceptionally fun to make and this was one of them. It is my second week as Melanie's guest designer, and this is the card I made for this week. Be sure to visit Melanie, to see the project I made for her blog.

I made the branch by using the clustered leaves stamp from A Year of Flowers. There is a little mini tutorial to follow if you are interested in how I did this. The Lotus is the large Chrysanthemum and the lily leaves are just one of the regular leaves from the set, turned, so that the rounded part is facing out, with the pointy end tucked under the Lotus blossom.

To make the branch, start by stamping the leaves, the first time pointing straight up, then alternate pointing from side to side. Try to keep the bottoms of the twig almost in a straight line, but not exactly in line with each other. I recommend practicing on scratch paper until you get the spacing the way you like.

Then just use your craft marker to connect the lines. You can see how not having the stamps in too straight of a line creates a more natural look.

Continue until you get to the last twig and extend your lines a little further. Don't worry if you have places that a bit jagged or bumpy. Trees have knots and shadows. Any mistakes will most likely make your branch look more realistic.

Here it is after I colored it. After that, I just cut it out to use on my card.

All the images are colored using Koh-i-noor pencils and cut out for placement on the card. I sponged the background to resemble water and sky. I used the same leaf stamp to go around the edges, with Certainly Celery ink.

I used my new flourish punch again. There may be an addiction developing here. LOL. Additional layers are Basic Black, Pacific Point and Basic Gray.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a super fun day!