Hi there! I have a couple more cards using some of the new goodies from the initial Simon Says Stamp Stamptember release, including one using one of my two new sets: Floral Frames! I adore white space, but I also love vivid, color saturated card fronts with lots of bold colors and absolutely no white space. I have been having a love affair with Hero Arts’s Eggplant cardstock, and I thought the Floral Frames and Berry Wreath dies would look beautiful on this rich shade of purple. Let’s get started with the details!

I love pairing the Eggplant cardstock with rich metallics and coral. The deep purple cardstock looks even more luscious when contrasted with the lovely light coral.

For my first card, I used the Eggplant cardstock to die cut the wreath base from the Berry Wreath die set. I also die cut the coordinating berries from both coral and deep magenta cardstocks to create a pretty, autumnal wreath. (This wreath would also look marvelous in more traditional holiday colors!) I love that the assembly for this wreath is so simple; you simply die cut the two different sizes of berries and place them on the appropriately-sized spot on the wreath base. Super easy and quick! I also die cut lots of foliage from some sage green cardstock, but left them to the side for later.

For the card base, I ran an A2 panel of Eggplant cardstock through my die cut machine using the Simon Says Stamp Rhythmic folder. The crisp embossed details on this rich cardstock is just beautiful! I adhered the finished berry wreath the cardstock using liquid adhesive.

For the greeting, I die cut a large Hugs die from some sparkling metallic glitter cardstock. This warm rose gold glitter cardstock contrasts beautifully with the rich purple cardstock background. I adhered it using foam tape over the center of the berry wreath, then arranged the sage green foliage in a swag behind the sentiment die cut. The final touch was to add a coral double twine bow! The twine adds a bit of a rustic feel to it, which is juxtaposed nicely with the geometric background. This would be a perfect sympathy card, I think!

My second card features one of my own illustrations: Floral Frames. One of the best parts about illustrating stamps is that I get the opportunity to color the images in tons of different color combinations and mediums. I adore the look of colored pencils on colored cardstock, and this rich Eggplant cardstock was just screaming to be paired with vivid colored pencil coloring. I began by stamping the peony swag from the Floral Frames set onto some Eggplant cardstock using white pigment ink. I used my Caran D’Ache colored pencils to add vivid peachy pink to the flowers, some lilac berries, and jewel green leaves. I used the white pencil judiciously to add lots of highlights so that the color really popped off of the deep purple cardstock. If you’ll notice, the stamped image has a circular frame, but I wanted to show more of the background, so after die cutting the finished colored pencil image with the coordinating die, I trimmed the circular portion off. Nothing wrong with customizing your stamped images to make them work for your card!

For the background, I spritzed some Tim Holtz Mica Spray in Antiqued Bronze on an A2 panel of Eggplant cardstock. This metallic spray looks absolutely gorgeous on this deep purple cardstock. I wish the photos captured the shine better… it’s spectacular! This is the first time that I’ve used the Mica Spray, and it won’t be the last. You can see why I trimmed off the circular frame from the flowers… I didn’t want to let that shine get covered up!

To help accent the flowers, I added some A2 Thin Frames from Simon Says Stamp, cut from some Brushed Copper cardstock from Altenew. I adhered the frames on the metallic background using liquid adhesive, then layered the colored pencil flowers over the top using foam tape for extra dimension. I heat embossed one of the greetings from the Floral Frames set using Copper embossing powder, then trimmed it with my sharp scissors and popped it up as well. Finally, I added a few Twinkling Tourmaline gems from Trinity Stamps to add some pretty purple sparkle to the card front!
Well, that’s all for my projects today! Thanks so much for reading, and have a marvelous day!
