No stamping birthday card using Manhattan Flower rose

Isn't it a good year for the roses?! Have you noticed? I have lots of roses in my pocket handkerchief-sized garden including two musk roses which smell so heavenly I almost faint when I pass them! The one in the photo is the first rose I planted. It normally gives us a few gloriously scented flowers and then it gives up but this year it's going beserk!

It reminds me a little of the Manhattan flower rose and I was inspired to use that embossing folder to make today's card.

This is one of those super-simple cards which involves no stamping and relies for its impact on the layered bloom. Here, let's zoom in on that rose!

Can you see how there are three layers of the rose. I've cut different bits out of them, sponged them with inks and layered them on top of each other. I also added a few droplets of Crystal Effects to make the rose look dewy fresh!

The rose is mounted on a masked and sponged background and the card base is the gorgeous Confetti Cream card stock with speckles in it. I've become very attached to this and use it a lot for my one-layer cards.

The sentiment, which you may recognise as coming from one of this year's Sale-a-bration stamps, has been stamped in Basic Grey - Basic Black would have been a little harsh. I added a double row of piercing above it for extra interest.

Here's how to make this card:

• Take an A5 piece of Confetti Cream card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base.
• Use post-it notes to mask off the edges of the card leaving an 8.5cm square. Sponge inside the square with Certainly Celery ink.
• Add a double row of piercing below the square and add a sentiment using Basic Grey ink.
• Now make the rose: Tuck some Whisper White card stock into the Manhattan Flower embossing folder and run through the Big Shot. Do this twice more until you end up with three embossed pieces. Cut out a full flower from one, slightly less from the second and the centre of the flower from the last.
• Sponge colour onto the embossed pieces - I used Riding Hood Red, Regal Rose and So Saffron and blended them well with my sponge.
• Layer the rose pieces together with dimensionals and glue the base to the sponged square on the card front.
• Add a few drops of Crystal Effects.

Supplies
Stamps: So Happy For You (retired Sale-a-bration set)
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Basic Grey
Card stock: Confetti Cream, Whisper White
Other: Crystal Effects

I've just been having a word with my daughter about expecting to be paid pocket money for chores that haven't been done. "It's wrong!" I said and, for dramatic effect, added: "On every level!" Now, my daughter used to argue with me - often defending points of view that were indefensible for hours on end! She's given this up now though and amuses herself by finding bizarre ways of agreeing with me. "I think you'll find, Mummy," she said now, "that it's wrong in ways that haven't EVEN been discovered yet!"

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm very pleased to welcome my new followers and would like to thank everyone who follows my blog and those who leave comments and emails for me - I love hearing from you.

I'll be back here tomorrow with Three Minute Thursday - hope you can join me!

Coordinated gift set using the Manhattan Flower embossing folder

Last Friday I had a lovely, giggly evening out in a local restaurant with some of my lovely girlfriends. One of the ladies had celebrated her birthday the day before and so she had to open all her gifts before we ordered our food - it's become a ritual! This is the gift set I gave her:

The lid of the box and the main panel on the card are made with the Manhattan Flower embossing folder which, when inked before inserting the card stock, produces this interesting effect.

I used Melon Mambo ink, which contrasts beautifully with the raised white outline of the flowers, and teamed it with Rich Razzleberry and silver accents.

This styled silver frame from the Hodgepodge Hardware set was perfect for this project. The set contains heaps of different sized and shaped frames as well as a variety of silver brads in different sizes.

Here's a close-up of the lid of the box. It's tied up with the fabulous 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Rich Razzleberry and I added tags cut out with the Medium Jewellery punch. Can you see that one of the tags is silver? That was made by rubbing my versamark pad over a scrap of Whisper White card stock, sprinkling with silver embossing powder and heating with my heat tool. Straight afterwards,  I used more versamark to stamp a tag outline from the Tiny Tags stamp set and embossed that with silver too. TIP: I've found it's best to pierce the hole before punching out with the tag punch.

Here's how to make this card:

• Brayer Melon Mambo ink over the debossed side of the Manhattan Flowers embossing folder - the side without the raised flower outlines. Insert a 12cm square piece of Whisper White card stock and run it though the Big Shot (Use this sandwich: Tab 1, Cutting pad, embossing folder with card stock, other cutting pad).
• Cut the resulting embossed card stock down to a 10.5cm square and curve one corner with a corner rounder.
• Mount the panel onto an 11cm square of Rich Razzleberry card stock.
• Stamp a sentiment onto a scrap of Whisper White card stock. Hold the Hodgepodge frame over it and cut it to size. Trim the shape down very slightly so that it won't be visible outside the frame and glue to the frame. Mount the frame onto the main panel using a paper piercer and the small silver brads from the Hodgepodge set.
• Cut a 12cm x 24cm piece of Whisper White card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base and attach the panel to the card front.

Supplies
Stamps: Happy Moments (retired sale-a-bration set)
Ink: Melon Mambo
Card stock: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry
Other: Manhattan Flowers embossing folder, Hodgepodge Hardware

I wish I'd thought to take a photo of the earrings that were inside this box. They were very ornate drop earrings, all glittering crystals and pearls. Not everyone could wear them - but my beautiful friend could carry them off perfectly.

We're still having beautiful sunshine (apart from a sprinkling of rain yesterday) and, at mealtimes, my boys have to be dragged in from deep in the undergrowth outside. They appear with twigs in their hair and blackened fingernails - and I am happy! They are not plugged into an electronic device but are being Proper Boys!

Hope you're having a good week. I have one of my sponged projects to show you tomorrow - with an added dimension! Hope you can join me,