Guest Designer For Emerald Creek Dares--Happy Easter

Hello friends!  I'm honored to be invited to Guest Design for Emerald Creek Dares today! Thank you, Kim, for having me join your talented Design team for the day! Please hop over to the blog to see all the amazing creations by the super talented Design Team there. I made an Easter card using lots of purple and Easter Parade embossing powder from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies.

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I started by making my background panel on white card stock.  I used Ranger's Embossing Dabber and a Recollections damask stencil to lay down the pattern.  I heat embossed it with Easter Parade embossing powder and blended over it with Seedless Preserves Distress ink.  I wiped it with a dry paper towel to remove the ink from the embossing. The embossing did not come out as crisp as I would like, because the stencil is quite flimsy and floppy, so the fluid of the dabber does seep underneath. I finished by distressing the edges and layering it on an inked panel (Seedless Preserves). I just love how this shimmers and shines in real life--the powder contains the tiniest flecks of glitter that provides just the right amount of sparkle.  Unfortunately the camera cannot pick up all that sparkly beauty-just a hint of it in the photo below.

I picked up this purple chipboard Easter sentiment at Michaels with purple glitter just on "Easter". I forgot to take a shot of the "before", so I flipped it over so you can see the difference.  I heat embossed the word Happy with the Easter Parade powder and the Ranger Embossing Dabber. You can see you get exceptional coverage with just one embossing. I layered the chipboard on a panel of cream burlap which I colored with gesso and Seedless Preserves ink on just the top half to provide contrast.

I tucked two hand cut banners behind the burlap; they are inked in Seedless Preserves and Frayed Burlap and distressed. I layered my flowers over two Memory Box Quinn Flourish die cuts inked in--you guessed it--Seedless Preserves! The yellow flowers are supposed to be daffodils.  I made them using Tim Holtz' Tattered Florals die, colored in Mustard Seed Distress ink and spritz and flicked.  I inked a strip of card in Dried Marigold, cut it into a fringe and rolled it up tightly to make the centers.

The light colored flowers started out as kraft paper flowers from the clearance bin.  I gave them a coat of gesso and when dry spritzed with water, dusted with Easter Parade powder and heated with my heat gun. These little guys just shimmer!  It's pretty amazing how the powder looks somewhat different on the different surfaces. Lastly, the purple flowers were a gift from Heaven!  I found these in a huge bag of fabric flowers at an estate sale this weekend. How cool is it that they would match my color scheme! Aren't they pretty? Of course, I had to make them my own by adding a petal layer from Tattered Florals colored with Seedless Preserves and Wilted Violet Distress spray.

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I took my card outside to pose among the daffodils in my garden. I don't mean to make you jealous, but we are having the most delightful spring weather with plenty of sunshine! Easter is on it's way!

I would like to enter my card into the following inspiring challenges:

Southern Ridge Trading Co. Easter
Our Creative Corner Return of the Challenge June '13 "Recipe"  List A fabric (burlap) List B Wood (Happy Easter embellishment  is wood) List C inks (used on background, layers, flowers, banners and die cuts)
Use Your Stuff Challenge #214 Flowers and More Flowers
Craftin Desert Divas Photo Inspiration Linky Party I took my inspiration from the glittery eggs and those blossoms. So pretty!
Word Art Wednesday Challenge Weeks # 222-223 Anything Goes (1st entry)
My Sheri Crafts Challenge # 177 Spring Fever
My Time to Craft Challenge # 317 Flowers
As You Like It Favorite Style of Embossing and Why Heat embossing, because I can alter just about anything with it.  Here I've used clearance rack flowers and a chipboard sentiment in an undesirable color and made them my own.  I can also create backgrounds using stamps or stencils. The possibilities are endless!
Crafting By Designs March Anything Goes
Die Cut Divas Something Spring (4th entry)

Thank you for stopping by today and for all your amazing comments!  I read and appreciate each and every one of them!

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily