Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge

It is time for a new challenge at Joan's Gardens.  Today we have a fun challenge for you using recycled material.  I love it when I figure out something "new" that I haven't seen anywhere else.  I had a few brown grocery bags and wondered what it would look like to use them on my card.  I love the way this turned out.  This is a 5"x7" card.    I used the Poppy stamps "Blooming Poinsettia" to die cut the flower.  I wanted to give it a special look so I used the Rangers "Tarnished Brass" Metallic Distress Stain on the petals.  The stains have a sponge top and are so easy just to brush over whatever you want to "stain".  I used my heat gun to dry the stain and it caused the petals to kind of curl up.  To bring out the "veins" in the petals, I used the Ranger "Perfect Medium Bullet" to draw lines on all the petals then Gold embossed with Rangers Detail Gold Embossing Powder.   This photo does not do justice to the beauty of the flower.  I hope you will give this a try.  I want to tell you that there are two different sizes of the "Perfect Medium" markers - one is a brush to do wide areas and there is a bullet that has a harder tip for detail writing or drawing.  I use these markers all the time for small areas.

I love the beautiful Memory Box "LaRue Ornament" and thought it would be beautiful die cut in shiny gold card stock and backed with Kraft card stock.  There are two dies that work together for this ornament.  The detail ornament is the "LaRue Ornament" (98377) and there is also a background ornament that matches the shape called "Drop Ornament" (98378).  With the Drop Ornament you die cut a backing for the LaRue Ornament and it also has the metal cap to complete the look.  These two dies make it so easy to complete any color combination ornaments.

Behind the poinsettia I used the beautiful Memory Box "Riviera Corner".  This die cut was intended to be used on a corner but I love the way it looks as flourish under the poinsettia.  

For the background on my card, I used another piece of brown paper bag and embossed it with the Sizzix "Holly Swirls" embossing folder.  I thought about adding the Tarnished Brass Distress Stain over it but wanted the poinsettia to stand out so didn't do that but I know that would have been beautiful.  The sentiment is the Cheery Lynn "Celebrate" die.  It was die cut using shiny gold card stock.  To add another bit of "glimmer" to this card, I used the Martha Stewart "Aspen Snowflake" border punch to get some gold snowflakes.   One of the snowflakes was added to the center of the poinsettia.

I hope you will join us in our challenge using a brown paper bag to create something on your card.  Joan and I are anxious to see how creative you can be. There are only a few more weeks before the drawing for the $100 gift certificate to Joan's Gardens.  If your name is not in the list of winners, be sure to enter the weekly challenge for a chance to be randomly chosen for this list.  

Memory Box "LaRue Ornament" (98377)

Memory Box "Drop Ornament" (98378)

Memory Box "Rivera Corner" (98372)

Poppy Stamps "Blooming Poinsettia" (861)

Sizzix "Holly Swirls" embossing folder (65713) (2 different folders in package)

Cheery Lynn "Celebrate" sentiment (B233)

Rangers "Tarnished Brass" Distress Stain

Rangers "Detail Gold Embossing Powder"

Ranger "Perfect Medium Bullet" marker

Martha Stewart "Aspen Snowflake" border/corner punches

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