Blue Poppy Garden

Hello, I hope your Sunday has been a good one so far!  Today I'm sharing a
watercolor creation using Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps  Precious Poppies.

The medium sized poppies have been stamped three times across 

the bottom of the card in Versafine Black Onyx ink on watercolor paper.  

Versafine works well because it's waterproof and won't run. 

I masked the poppies once or twice so that the images could overlap.  

I then sprayed the whole panel with water before brushing

 in the color using Ranger Distress Shabby Shutters 

and Peeled Paint for the green areas and

Broken China, Peacock Feathers, and Stormy Sky for the blue areas.

When doing this kind of watercoloring, it's hard to make a mistake,

 it's meant to be outside the lines - fun, when you get used to the idea!

It works particularly well with flower images, such as these in
the Precious Poppies set.
I then sponged and splattered ink for some extra color
before adding some gems in various sizes.

The sentiment is from the fantastic Birthday Word Art.
My card is also for the Featured Stamper Challenge at Splitcoaststampers 
today where we're being inspired by Heidi Tekunoff, aka Stamptek, and
here is the lovely watercolor card which inspired me.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Rainbow Garden

Here's a card for the current My Mum's Craft Shop Challenge: 
Summer or Bright Colours!

I've used My Favorite Things LJD Peaceful Wildflowers
 (which for those of you in the U.K., 

can be found at My Mum's Craft Shop) for the row of rainbow coloured
flowers, inked up with various Color Box inks.
I love this beautiful set of silhouette flowers, 

once you get started, you want to play with it all day!

The sentiment is Winnie & Walter's Big, Bold and You, 
another set that I'm using almost daily!

I added a black frame and a few black sequins to finish.  

Loving black sequins these days - and the best bit is that they 

don't seem to make the card thick enough to require a Large Letter stamp!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Cool Blue Butterfly

Back to creating after a week of vacation - a wonderful 

break, which was an unexpected blessing, I might add!

Today's card was made for the Featured Stamper Challenge
at Splitcoaststampers and this week we're being
 inspired by Karren Johnson, aka karrenj !

HERE is the lovely card from her gallery which I chose.

I used Ranger Distress ink to add a colourwash
background on watercolour paper, 

then a stronger mix of the same inks for the large butterfly.

The tiny butterflies are cut using Impression Obsession 

Butterfly Dies and the sentiment is a fabulous Serendipity die -

 I cut four layers and stacked them up for dimension.

The whole thing is finished off with some Ranger Enamel
Accents dots in white.

I hope you're having a good weekend,
 and thanks so much for stopping by today!

Hooray!!!

Hello!  Here's a clean and simple creation which would fit

 the bill for birthdays of any age or gender!
This is for the current CASology Challenge: Cue Word - Float,
 the My Mums Craft Shop Challenge: Summer or Bright Colours
and the Splitcoaststampers Ways to Use It Challenge: Balloons!

I've used the fabulous Birthday Word Art from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps  -

 I love the style of the text on this sentiment and this is one of those
 sets which you will reach for time and time again.

I recently saw Laura Bassen sponge some fabulous balloons
and knew I wanted to try it with a negative
die-cut of the balloon from Birthday Bash Dies.

Here Ranger Distress ink was used and by careful sponging, you can leave a
lighter bit on the ballons so that it gives the effect of translucence.

I then drew in the balloon strings with a pencil just to make sure

they were well placed, before going over that with a fine line black marker.

I added some black sequins and popped up the whole panel on a black 

card base.  It was so much fun making this card and I hope it conveys

a sense of birthday fun for the recipient!

Thanks for stopping by today!