Hello from Guest Designer Vicki

Hi everyone! Today, I'm sharing with you guest designer Vicki Finger's blog post and card. Her card is so simple and elegant! Don't you just love it! If you love her work, please head over and follow her on her blog and instagram. 

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Hello there! Today I have a guest post for Ink On 3! I recently participated as a guest for Ink On 3 & Gina K Designs Collaboration Blog Hop. They asked if I would also do another Guest post for them later in the month, so here it is.

Some of you might know or remember that I love "The Legend of the Dogwood". I particularly love Pink Dogwoods and they are fairly plentiful in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. We loved seeing all of them during our Southeast Swing Vacation in April and May of 2015.  If you are not familiar with the story, I'll share it with you here. The Pink Dogwood is a photo I took in Richmond, Virginia while on that 2015 trip. We were visiting one of my oldest and dearest friends and her husband there.

The Legend of the Dogwood

"At the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood had reached the size of the mighty oak tree. So strong and firm was the wood that it was chosen as the timber for Jesus' cross.  To be used for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the dogwood. While nailed upon it, Jesus sensed this, and in his compassion said, "Because of your pity for my suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth, it shall be slender, bent, and twisted, and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross–two long and two short petals.

"In the center of the outer edge of each petal will be the print of nails. In the center of the flower, stained with blood, will be a crown of thorns so that all who see it will remember."

Jesus was taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb. Three days later, he rose from the dead. At the same time, the dogwoods in the forest burst into bloom, and they continue to do so right around Easter in what is believed to be a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection.

While the dogwood tree never again took part in an execution, it’s still said to carry the marks of Jesus’ crucifixion. Its four large petals represent the cross he died upon, and each petal displays four red-tinged notches that are said to represent four nail holes. And in the center of each flower is a green cluster that is symbolic of Jesus’ crown of thorns.

Alas, the legend of the dogwood most likely originated in the United States in the 20th century. They are not native to the Middle East, nor would they have been found growing there in Jesus’ time. Nevertheless, the legend persists, and many Christians revere the beloved dogwood as it continues to remind them of Jesus’ love and sacrifice for mankind.

I used the Ink On 3 Dogwood Flower Stamps and Coordinating Dies to create today's card.  I didn't exactly get the effect I was going for, but I am just getting a little practice in with my 36 Pan Watercolor Set from Altenew. 

I started by Stamping the floral images in embossing ink and heat embossed them with Antique Gold Embossing Powder on Bristol Smooth Cardstock.  I spent quite a bit of time watercoloring the images as I'm still not very good at that. I am improving with practice, so don't give up and keep practicing if you aren't getting the results you want! 

I used some of the Liquid Pixie Dust with a water brush to go over the blooms to enhance some of the lighter areas.  I'm not sure this was successful, but I like how it turned out anyway. Once that was done I set it aside to dry while I worked on my background panel, also Bristol Smooth.  I did some very loose watercolor in Pink Diamond toward the center of the panel. Once that was dry, I went around the outer portion of the panel with a very diluted solution of Evergreen watercolor.  I used my Altenew 36 Pan Set of Watercolors.

While that was drying, I die cut the two floral clusters and die cut my greeting from Gold Foiled Cardstock. Switching back to my background panel and added Gold Spatter with my Finetec Gold Mica Watercolors.  Since each watercolored item has to completely dry between layers, I go back and forth with each part of my card that was watercolored. Finally, once everything was dry, I die cut a gold foiled panel for the outer background and die cut the watercolored inner panel slightly smaller than the gold foiled background.  Then I assembled my card onto a top folding horizontal card base.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I appreciate you spending time with me today!