Inspired By...Cacti {Thanks for sticking by me}

Happy Valentine's Day, friends! I'm not sharing a Valentine's Day design with you today, but I WILL be a busy little Cupid later today delivering all kinds of Valentine's Day cheer to friends, family, and school faculty! I hope you all have a wonderful day filled with love! Today there is a fabulous new Inspired By Challenge featuring a little love and cacti!

Isn't this a fabulous inspiration photo? I was really inspired by the crinkly sacks that the cacti are in as well as the cacti themselves. I really love the colors of the cacti and the way the light is shining on them. 

To begin my card, I used the Next Level Geometric Embossing Folder to create the pattern and dimension on the Kraft cardstock. This was as close as I could get to the color of the paper bags in the photo. Once that was done, I mixed some black acrylic paint with some water on a clear stamping block and used a thin pointed paintbrush to make spatters across the piece.

I set that aside to dry while I worked on the pot of cacti. I used one of my favorite, but recently neglected, stamp sets from SugarPea Designs called Stuck On You. I love all of the punny sentiments as well as the array of succulents and cacti. I chose to use the one with lots of prickles since those are the ones that are featured in the inspiration photo. I chose a sage green that was as close to the color in the photo. The pot is stamped to appear to look like Terracotta.

Once I had all of the pieces stamped, I used the coordinating Stuck On You SugarCuts to die cut them. The sentiment is stamped in black and is one that is included in the Stuck On You stamp set. I adhered that to the card by using foam squares. I arranged the pot and cacti above the sentiment using foam squares as well. 

The entire piece is adhered to a white A2 card base using ScorTape. The embossed edges need a little something extra to get them to stick. I added a trio of sparkling clear sequins for some shine. I resisted and didn't add any shimmer spray! LOL! I had so much fun creating this simple design! I hope you get a chance to play along with us this week! Thanks for fluttering by!