Bloomin' with Kraft

I made this card for a challenge that I do every Monday with some friends on SCS. Our challenge this week was to use pastels on Kraft cardstock. I love coloring images on kraft with pastels. It's a bit like working with watercolors...you can layer colors and shade. The difference is....if you make a mistake, you can erase the color with an eraser and start over. How cool is that?!?!

This card is 5 1/4" x 5 1/4". I started off by stamping this big bloom by Artful Inkables. This is an awesome flower that is so versatile. I debated whether or not to make it 3-D, but settled on the more flat image so it would fit in the frame better. I stamped the bloom on Kraft CS with Tim Holtz Black Soot Distress Ink, and colored the image with pastels. I then sprayed it with gloss clear acrylic sealer to set the chalk. Otherwise it will rub off. After that coat was dry (about a minute) I outlined the flower with Crystal Ice Stickles, and coated the center with Cinnamon Stickles. After the stickle dried, I sponged the edges with Tim Holtz Walnut Distress Ink...as I did with all the other panels also. The panel behind the flower, is the leaf that comes with this bloom. I stamped that with versamark directly on the really rust cs.
For the corners, I cut a 1" square of Choc. and subtracted the really rust by 3/16". I then took my 1" circle punch and punched out one of the corners of each piece. The sentiment tab is from SunSpirit Studio and can be found at Starving Artistamps. The rest is pretty self explanatory. The corners and bloom are raised with dimensional tape.

Stamps: Artful Inkables, SunSpirit Studio
Paper: Stampin' Up - Choc. Chip, Kraft, Really Rust
Ink: Tim Holtz Black Soot and Walnut Distress Ink, Versamark
Accessories: Decorative Brads, Stickle, 1" Circle Punch, Corner Rounder, sponge, dimensonal tape