Anniversary - Wild Hibiscus - CAS Mix Up

Good afternoon...and welcome. Been MIA for a bit, but did manage to finish up a couple cards to share. Received some absolutely lovely birthday cards from wonderful blog friends, and have posted a few. Still have a couple to photo and share, but if you have time, do please check the Cards by Friends Page and enjoy some of the blessings that came my way. All these are displayed on the mantle and provide such uplift to my mood each time I pass. Thank you to those who were so generous and kind to remember me- either with a snail card or an email card. Wasn't feeling all that great on the day, so these cards were just the cheer I needed then.

One lovely friend sent some embossed images which I've used on today's card. We have an anniversary coming soon, and for some reason, I felt the urge to do something a bit 'tropical'. I'd seen Julie Ebersole Hello Monday and was inspired to attempt the look.

- Wild Hibiscus flowers & leaves had been embossed with a metallic ink, so colored with Zig Brush Markers, fussy cut.

- Background behind the flowers (in the cut out section) was an experiment with DI Paints and an old background stamp (think the stamp is Hero Art, but no markings). Had seen a video that showed dabbing the paints over a stamp, spritzing, then stamping. The first mistake was these were new paints, so had to get the 'flow' started. Dabbed on the stamp instead of on the craft sheet, and of course the paint was much too thick in places. Second mistake: this background stamp is not etched as deeply in some places, so wasn't the best choice for trying this technique. My first effort had too much ink in places, looked ok in other sections. Decided to cut a piece of the boo-boo to back these flowers in the cut-out. (kept spritzing the stamp, and pulling more prints. Successive prints looked better). These prints will be used in later cards.

- S/B Flowers & Leaves EF (SES-008). Had to fiddle with the B/Shot to get the sandwich to roll without stress. On the normal sandwich that would be used with an embossing folder, it seemed too 'thick'. so kept adjusting. Final effort was just the multi-purpose platform, all tabs in place, and did not use the bottom cutting plate-just the top plate. It rolled through ok, and did a nice embossing. I've broken a Cuttlebug with an Mbossibility EF in the past (think S/B must use a thicker grade of plastic in their newer EF's as well...seems much thicker than the Darice ones).

Cut this embossed piece, laid the background in place on the card base, added the portions of the embossed piece, then applied the flowers over that. Decided to add some Nuvo crystal pearl centers.

- SU sentiment, stamped with SU Real Red, punched with an SU punch. That's it!

Thank you to so many of you who emailed with good wishes while I was dealing with the respiratory troubles. I'm feeling much improved, but still need to regain my energy. It's been very hot in our area, so just staying in the air conditioning, and resting a lot. Thanks for joining me today. Big Cyber Hugs.

Linking to July CAS Mix Up Card Challenge.