Handmade by Sindhu

Hello everyone!

I wanted to share a card I made for MFT ‘Card Design Superstar contest for the ‘Coloring Virtuoso’ category. To be honest, I’m by no means a coloring virtuoso but I couldn’t let the opportunity to try something different pass by. 

Since the day they had announced the contest, I had been playing around the idea of adding details to a floral stamp set I had in my stash. I hadn’t used it much which was another reason why I wanted to put it to use. So, I tried. 

Here is my card…

I also took pictures along the way while I coloured it.  Excuse the bad lighting. It is very cloudy here and I had to take some of the pictures indoors. 

I used the ‘Flashy florals’ stamp set for this card. Here is a look at the stamp set…

As you can see, I had used the biggest flower and a medium sized flower and a couple of leaf images to make this card.
First, I created masks for both the flowers and stamped them on white cardstock with ‘insulation pink’ dye ink from MFT. Then, I masked the flowers and stamped the leaves in Memento Pear Tart dye ink. I let everything dry well.

Once the images were dry, I started adding layers with my Prisma colored pencils. You can see the steps in the below picture.

I used 3 shades of pink and 3 shades of green.

Once the coloring was done, I fussy cut the whole arrangement out and assembled the card. 

I die cut a stitched rectangle using a die from MFT blueprints 29. I stamped on it with ‘bold diagonals’ background cling stamp with ‘grout grey’ ink. I love how subtle it looks in the background while still adding a great pattern to the card. I added a die cut from stitched basic edges dies at the bottom as I needed some white. I die cut the word ‘hugs’ several times and layered them. On the top, I added the die cut in grey. Instead of diecutting from a grey cardstock, I smooshed the same grey ink that I had used for the background on a piece of Neenah solar white cardstock and die cut the word from it and it matches the colour of the backgrond pattern perfectly!

Here are a couple more pictures…

I also wanted to add why I thought this card deserved to be linked to the awesome challenge… As soon as I saw what others had made, I felt like giving up. I had no chance. The entries were AMAZING to say the least. So much talent… 

But I didn’t want to give up. So, I sat and tried. After throwing at least 10 different colored versions, this happened. I was pleased. It took me over 3 hours to make masks, add details and fussy cut it out. And another one hour to finish the entire card. Also, this was the first time I had done something so elaborate. Now, when I see the first image ( in the collage) and the card in front of me, I feel it was totally worth the time and effort. Irrespective of whether I win or not, I’m going to cherish this card. Bonus?  My hubby who usually is hard to please, looked pleased when he saw the card, said it was very good. What more could I ask for? 🙂 Here goes my card in the ‘Coloring Virtuoso’ category.

List of supplies used

Neenah solar white 110lb 

MFT Flashy florals stamp set

Prisma colored pencils

MFT stitched basic edges dies

MFT BluePrints 29

MFT bold diagonals background stamp

MFT inks ‘insulation pink’ and ‘grout grey’.

Memento ‘pear tart’ ink

Pretty Pink Posh clear droplets (4mm and 6mm).