Cards made for a weekend challenge

Connie from Simply Simple Stamping posts a weekend challenge for card makers every Friday. I've been following her blog for a while, but only recently began participating. I didn't expect to be home this weekend and wasn't going to join in, but the weather is absolutely dismal. It is cold (for the end of June), has been raining all day, and we have strong wind gusts making it all feel worse. Bah and humbug!

This weather does make for a perfect afternoon to work on crafts, and so I did. I made two cards that fit this weekend's challenge. The link to this weekend's challenge info is here and here is the layout image:

 

In the cards I made today, I used Blackberry Bliss, Lost Lagoon and Watermelon Wonder cardstock and/or ink. The flowers came from two stamp sets, Crazy About You (it also supplied the 'Happy Birthday') and Petal Potpourri. The 'Thinking of You' message is from the Sheltering Tree stamp set. 

The flower nearest the top has a bit of white glimmer on alternate rows of petals. I used Wink of Stella to achieve this. It provides a light layer of shimmer. The white flower a bit of shine in the center and along some of the petal lines from a Sakura Gelly Roll pen, the Clear Star one. This flower is slightly elevated with pop dots. The lower petal was stamped with Blackberry Bliss to match the background, and has white highlights from a white Signo Uniball Impact pen.

The flower inside is also Blackberry Bliss on Lost Lagoon with a bit of white (Uniball pen) highlighting.

The second card issues the same sentiment on the front with a Happy Birthday greeting inside.

I stamped the flower in Watermelon Wonder on white paper. I used a 2.5" punch to create a spot for its placement within the Lost Lagoon paper that is 1/4" smaller than the card base on each side. The flower is on pop dots and the center has a pearl embellishment.  After rounding the corners on the Lost Lagoon cardstock, I used the white Uniball pen to add stitches to the edge and around the circle. 

I like the simplicity of both cards. Knowing when to stop can be difficult, but I'm becoming more comfortable with making that decision.