Roses..........

I have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with roses.

They can be a thorny mess and in my part of the world we really struggle with blackspot disease. Midsummer they are covered with Japanese beetles and all the flowers are eaten to shreds.

I have to say though - when they bloom they are glorious.

I patterned the rose in this card off one of the ones in my yard.

The card is made with the Rose Bouquet cling set from Paper Inspirations. These are amazingly detailed stamps that ink and stamp beautifully. The sentiment is part of the set and there is an inside sentiment as well.

For this image, I stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored with Copic markers. No smearing or feathering at all! The image looks hard to color, but its really not because all the shading is built right in to the stamp image.

I inked the edges of all the layers using Distress Vintage Photo and a Duster Brush. I was trying for an antiqued look.

Anyway - here are some pictures of the rose in my garden. I wish I had "smell-a-vision" because this rose smells divine!