Hello crafty friends. I’ve got some exciting news, as Clarity’s Big Spring Sale started today and runs until midnight on Monday 27th April (UK time)! There’s lots of products in the sale at great reductions, including the Art Deco Special Day Sentiments stamps at 50% off, so I decided to play with them today!

I cut a piece of Clarity’s premium card (also in the sale!) down to 4’5″ square and stamped the sentiment into the corner using ‘watering can’ Archival ink. I used spot-on sponges to add Distress Oxides to the larger floral stamp and added it to the card – ‘hickory smoke’ for the stems & leaves, and ‘saltwater taffy’ & ‘picked raspberry’ for the flowers , blending the ‘picked raspberry’ into the centre after I’d covered the flower with the ‘saltwater taffy’. I used the same process to add the smaller flower a couple of times (masking off part of the stem so it didn’t go over the sentiment), plus the berries image.

I added one of the butterflies from the Just Butterflies & Bees set (another one at half price until Monday night) and shaded it with Polychromo pencils (rose carmine and coral). I laid the topper against a mount of grey card and on a 6×6 card blank, but thought it all looked very stark (I know, unusual for Mrs CAS here!) so lightly brushed the ‘saltwater taffy’ in from the card edges to soften it before attaching the grey mount. I still didn’t like it against the white card blank, so brushed more of the ‘saltwater taffy’ onto the front and then attached the topper – much better!

I do like these pretty pinks thanks to the palette from Creative Colour and my blooms and butterflies pick up three of Triple B‘s elements. And don’t miss out on Clarity’s Big Spring Sale – it’s a great time to stock up on crafting essentials as well as stamps, stencils and other products!