Pinkfresh Studio {Hoping Life is Good}

Happy Monday and happy Presidents' Day to my U.S. friends and Happy Family Day and Flag Day of Canada to my Canadian friends!  I'm over on the Pinkfresh Studio Blog today sharing this floral hope card and wanted to share it here as well. The new release is SO amazing and I've been itching to use the new Choose Hope stamp set so that it was I chose to use for today's card. The back of the packaging showed it in tones of blue, so I used that as the jumping point of my design!

I die cut two floral clusters using the Choose Hope Die making certain to keep both the die and the paper is was cut from. I placed the paper it was cut from into my MISTI and then carefully lined up the image in the negative space for perfect alignment. I stamped it in black ink and then used the Choose Hope Layering Stencils to add the color. I kept the same paper the die cut was cut from so I could use it for the stenciling as well. I do want to note, however, that the stencils do have guides on them in the corners so you can simply use an A2 size piece of paper and do all of the stenciling first, and then die cut and stamp/or stamp and die cut. I chose to do it this way for precise alignment using the die cut as a guide for both the stamping and stenciling. You can choose whichever steps you prefer in whatever order you prefer to get the best results!

I set the two floral clusters aside and got to work on the other design elements. Originally I had planned on using a plain white background, but I love adding texture, so I opted to use the beautiful Essentials: Stitches Die for the background with the Stitched Rectangles die used on the perimeter for a finished edge. 

I layered a Essentials; Stitched Scallop Rectangles over the top of the background using foam squares. I stamped the "Hoping" portion of the sentiment onto a Basic Label Frame with the heat embossed "life is good" portion added underneath. As I mentioned earlier, I had planned on using a plain piece of white cardstock for the background, so I had to get creative with the "hoping" portion of the sentiment. I tried stamping directly onto the stitched panel, but ended up with the result I was thinking would happen. Plan B worked out nicely, so crisis averted!

Once the sentiment were in place, I was able to add the floral clusters using foam squares. I squared them off using my paper trimmer. You could probably get away with using only one floral cluster if you plan it out in advance. I wanted to be able to lay the clusters exactly as I wanted without having to sacrifice anything, so I was happy I made two. I decided to add a little bit of extra detail by tucking in a few of the Curvy Leaves around the floral clusters.

The finishing touch, as always (ha ha!), is a few jewels in coordinating colors! I layered the entire panel onto a top folding white A2 card base using additional foam squares. I had a lot of fun creating this blue toned floral card! Thanks for fluttering by!