CAS(E) this Sketch #256 - birthday wishes

I made this card for this week's CAS(E) this Sketch #256.

Chrissy's sketch was a little challenging and I was thinking for a while whether I should go with a graphic design theme or a nature theme. 
When I saw Donna's cascaded rose card, a light bulb went on - Orchids!
I have Altenew's classy orchid stamps but I haven't used them. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to play with them. 

I heat-embossed the flowers and the buds on a piece of parchment, colored them with Zig markers, and die cut them. I drew the stem with Zig markers and Prismacolor pencils. I lightly colored the card base with Oxide Ink using a clarity brush and stamped the sentiment in Versafine.

Here's a close-up of the flowers:

Actually, I made 3 cards for the sketch - One of them was ruined because I accidentally dropped liquid glue on the card base after I finished the card ...😢
The other card I made is this:

I used specialty vellum (it has a sheen to it) instead of parchment, darkened the colors of the flowers, and pasted the front panel on black cardstock. I carefully drew the stem with Prismacolor pencils.
However, I liked the first simpler card better after all. I'm sure you all have experienced this: the amount of time and energy you spend on a card doesn't always correlate with the end result. Sometimes it's frustrating but I guess that's what makes card-making challenging and fun. 😊 

Thanks for visiting me today! 


Stamp: Oriental Orchid (Altenew), That Is All (WPlus9)
Paper: Neenah Cardstock (Solar White - 110 lb), Parchment (Grafix Arts)
Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko), Zig Clean Color Brush Marker (Yellow, Orange, Light Violet, Pale Green, Light Green - Kuretake), Distress Oxide (Wilted Violet - Ranger), Versafine (Onyx Black - Tsukineko), Colored Pencils (Grass Green, Dark Brown - Prismacolor)
Accessories: Oriental Orchid Die (Altenew), Embossing Powder (Liquid Platinum - Ranger), Die-namics A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)