Welcome to our new theme at Sparkles challenges and an appropriate choice for spring of the old saying ‘April showers bring May flowers’. Well it’s been pretty wet this month so far, so let’s hope it rings true! I went with one of ClarityCrafts brand-new ‘Japanese florals 2-way overlay’ stamp sets for this one, to focus on sunny May days. I’ve taken a bit of a loose interpretation of Just Add Ink‘s sketch, but I hope the team can still see all the elements!

So I started with a topper cut to fit on a 6×6 card blank and cut a nested circle die into it, slightly offset towards the right and bottom. I laid it over the card blank, then stamped the ‘Japanese floral – happiness’ outline image through the aperture. Putting the topper to one side, I added ‘dried marigold’, ‘saltwater taffy’ and ‘uncharted mariner’ Distress Oxides to the infill stamp, using cotton buds so I could get the colour exactly where I wanted it.

I then stamped the floral part of the outline stamp onto the opposite side of the die cut circle on the topper and used the same colours on the infill stamp to shade it in. I glued some scrap pieces of card onto the back of the topper to raise it slightly, then attached it to the card front.

I added the sentiment from the set, then finished with some additional dots around the aperture and flowers using a micron pen.

So are you looking forward to sunny May days filled with flowers, after the April rain? We’d love to see how we’ve inspired you – come and join us in the Sparkles gallery