Coneflower Happy Birthday Card - Inkspirational DT Call

This is the second card I've made for Mynnette's Inkspirational DT call.  It's a colour challenge this time - I had to think about this one for a while!  I opted for a sponged background with silhouette stamping, a definite fave technique of mine.

I started off with a piece of Whisper White CS as a blank canvas and then sponged away to my heart's content to create my background.  I used to be nervous and apprehensive when sponging but I kept at it anyway and now I'm very happy to sponge away and I find it really therapeutic.  I sponged Old Olive at the bottom for the ground and for the sky I used Bashful Blue and Baja Breeze inks.  I inked the grass stamp with Soft Suede ink and stamped off once on scrap paper before stamping on the white card.  I inked the coneflower stamp with Soft Suede ink, stamped that full strength and cut the panel to the size I wanted.  I'd used sponges to create the background but then I switched to  sponge daubers to edge the panel with Baja Breeze and Old Olive inks.  I layered onto a Soft Suede mat and adhered that to the front of a 5 3/4" square Old Olive card base.  I absolutely love the shape of the label in the SU! Apothecary Accents die set and I'm always happy when I discover sentiments that fit it!  I stamped with Soft Suede ink onto Baja Breeze CS and die cut the label.  I die cut another label from Soft Suede CS and trimmed the two long edges off so I could add a mat at the top and bottom of the label and I popped the label up.

I die cut three of the smallest flowers from the SU! Floral Fusion die from Baja Breeze CS.  To give them some shape and dimension I snipped between each petal and then spiralled the end of a large embossing stylus in the centre of each flower.  Like me, Mynnette loves her bling and I just had to place a rhinestone in each flower centre - plus I placed one over the i in birthday for good measure!  I bought a set of Cheery Lynn butterfly dies a little while ago but hadn't used them and I thought now was the time to break them open.  I die cut the plain wing from Baja Breeze CS and the fancy top layer from Old Olive CS.  I've glued the butterfly to the card just along the body so the wings can fold upwards.  The butterfly body was the perfect spot to place more rhinestones to finish off the card front!

Here's the inside and the envelope with more stamping and sponging.  I had to scrub my hands with a pumice stone as I got very inky but even so I really enjoyed making this card! 

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! Inspired by Nature set, Happy Birthday from Inkadinkado Stylish Sentiments set, Enjoy your Special Day from Woodware Sentiments clear set
CS: SU! Old Olive, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze & Soft Suede
Tools: SU! Apothecary Accents Framelits die set, SU! Floral Fusion Sizzlits die, Cheery Lynn Small Exotic Butterflies die set, circle punches, embossing stylus, sponges, sponge daubers
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Rhinestone Jewels, 3D foam tape