Grandma's Elegant Peony

Peonies are one of my favorite flowers. I'm sure it's because during my childhood, every year when my Grandma would come to visit for my birthday, she would bring a huge bouquet of beautiful peonies for my Mom. She had many different colors growing in her garden and they bloomed during the beginning of June just in time for my birthday. My favorite color she grew were a deep raspberry red color...which was the inspiration for this card.

I used Rose Red along with a little bit of Blackberry Bliss for shading. I masked the blossom part of the flower (but didn't worry about the leaves) before stamping the crosshatch background inked in Crumb Cake. You can read more about my experimenting with this background and flower in this previous posting (or keep scrolling down).

The background panel uses a pattern from the Typeset DSP along with the Boho Chic Embossing Folder. I added a strip of Gold Satin Ribbon to finish it off..BUT after looking at my finished creation I wondered if it needed an extra little something. So I made a bow...

The center of the bow is gathered up with a strip of Basic Black Card stock secured with Glue Dots. Then I added some Basic Pearls. Which version do you prefer? I'm still undecided. I guess my decision will be made when I give it to the intended birthday person...if I see her in person I'll leave the bow, if I need to mail it, then the flatter version would be better.

Thanks for visiting today! Have a wonderful weekend!