BACHELOR BUTTONS

Back when I was growing up, my mom was always so proud of her flower beds. I too was enthralled with all the beautiful flowers she grew. 

The ones I have the fondest memories of though were the beautiful blue bachelor buttons. Bachelor buttons come in hues of pink, purple and blue. But, of course, my favorite is the blue one because that is the only color Mom raised.

One of the freebies that can be earned during Sale-A-Bration is a stamp set called Wonderful World (page 14 in the Sale-A-Bration brochure) and one of the stamps from this set is a pretty duo of bachelor buttons.

To color my flowers as realistically as possible and match those I grew up with, I grabbed my Stampin' Write Markers. The colors I used included Brilliant Blue, Almost Amethyst and Garden Green. Before adding the colors, however, I stamped the image in Smoky Slate ink. I'd tried it with black ink, but the only way I could get the color to show up nicely was to use the gray ink.

And, yes, I realize that Brilliant Blue and Almost Amethyst are both long retired, but I still have every one of my Stampin' Write Markers. None of the current colors come close enough to the true color of these pretty flowers. So, another step back in time.

I had a pretty scrap of Designer Series Paper left over from another project that boasted a couple shades of green. So that was my background.

I cut the flower image out with a banner die, then followed with another larger pennant die on Garden Green cardstock. A miniature banner was cut from some retired Brilliant Blue cardstock and nestled between the white and green layers..

The sentiment was taken from the Quiet Meadow stamp set (page 68, in the Annual Catalog) and is stamped in Garden Green. 

To pick up on the blue a little bit more than in just the flowers, I added a trio of blue rhinestones.

Other than the little elevation of the rhinestones, the only dimension on this card comes from popping up the layered pennants with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Do you ever experience a little trip back to your childhood when something you come across serves as a trigger of sorts? This provided such a nice walk back down memory lane.

My parents sold that house when they moved into an assisted living facility. I wonder if the flowers still come up each year at the house? I hope so!

Childhood

Smiles.