Birthday Carnations

I have been desperate for signs of spring.  I miss my garden!!  I miss sunlight.  I miss sipping wine coffee on the deck, and long walks along the river trail behind our house.  
So, my flower stamps are getting a workout.  If I can't have my garden, I can at least stamp and color flowers, and dream of warmer days and plants sprouting from the ground. 

For my card today, I used Stampendous stamps.  The carnation is Cling Carnation Blooms, and the verse is from the Cling Fresh Peony set.  

I stamped onto Strathmore vellum bristol paper, and colored with Polychromos colored pencils.  I used a flicking technique, where I applied color with small flicks of the pencil to create texture.  I was striving to create the textured petals that carnations have.  Here is a close-up to show the flicking texture details...

The die along the right edge is from Altenew.  I used a Die-namics die to cut the flower panel.  I brushed some broken china distress ink along the edges.  It is layered onto a panel of mulberry card stock.  I created the script panel with a stencil The Crafter's Workshop Mini Believe Script.

I embossed the happy birthday, and used an EK Success punch for it, and layered it onto the front.  Some Ranger black enamel accents for embellishment.  

Thank you for visiting.  I think I will go water my house plants now.  Maybe I can get my Christmas cactus to flower again!  Sometimes it does around this time.  

I am adding my card to the The Daily Marker 30 Day Color Challenge.

Blessings,