A Birdhouse & a Birdcage

 

I'm up on the Art Impressions blog today for the Watercolour Weekend post!  I pulled out a favourite set of mine for my first card, here is 5261 - WC Large Birdhouse Set:

I started by taping off a 1 1/2" stripe on my Bristol Smooth Cardstock, and I did some ink blending with Broken Glass and Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide inks.  I mostly avoided the area where I wanted the birdhouse to be - and then used my Misti to stamp it exactly where I wanted it, using N57. 

Next, I created my vine using a portion of the small vine from Foliage Set - 4051 and #177, stamping it repeatedly to make the vine wrap around the base.  I used my damp brush to soften the leaves, extending the colour to the background slightly,  then used the spiky flower from 5258 - WC Flower Set 4 to stamp my flowers using #606.  I painted the birdhouse with N57, and added #991 to the roof.  With N57, I used my stamp positioner to add the two birds from the Birdhouse Set to the sky, and painted them in with shades of #565.  Shadows were painted in the windows and on the undersides of the surfaces using #565.

I hand drew in a few blades of grass, and used the small branch from 4964 - WC Branches Set to finish off my scene.  The sentiment is from 5797 - Little Things Sentiment Set stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.

For my second card, I've used the 5367 - WC Birdcage Dies.  I've used them before, but as a mask, so the die shape was simply the 'negative' that was painted around.  But these dies are gorgeous when cut, so I wanted to use the larger one cut from metallic silver cardstock - and I really love the look.

I started by tracing the rough shape of my die onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper, so that I would have an idea of how to create my flowers & foliage.  Using my stamp positioner, I added the trailing blooms from 5474 - Flower Set 5 in #725/177 and #676/177, as well as the two fuchsia stamps in the same colours.  I added the Daisy Bunch from 4052 - Flower Set 1 in #993 with #725 around the bottom, which gave a peachy-pink shade to them.  The circlet flowers from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2, and the Foxglove from 4052 were both stamped in #565, and then I filled in around them with the tiny leaves from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set in #126.

After touching everything with a damp brush, I added a wash of #493 to the background.  I spattered a little silver metallic paint onto the edges, and wanted a little something more - so stamped and diecut two of the butterflies from 5561 - Birds and Bugs Set.  They were coloured up with coordinating Tombow colours, and adhered with their wings bent up.  I glued my birdcage on top of my painting, used a decorative edge die to cut out my panel, and adhered it to my cardbase with 3D foam adhesive.

Yay! Birthday

 I have another card made with the Citrus Bloom suite, done in pinks and plums this time.  I decided to experiment with my inks and frames to see what I could put together.  The sentiment is Perfect Sentiments, the frame is Stitched Scallop Rectangles and the background is from the Slim Stitches die.  All supplies are from Pinkfresh Studio.

Messy House

 I have an oldie to share today!  This is 4452 - Messy House TF, one of the old Try-fold stamp sets from Art Impressions.  I found it as far back as 2014 here on my blog - used both as I have today, or with the 3 folded card as it was intended to be used.  This was sitting in my stash uncoloured, so I pulled out my Copics and put this together to gift to a friend:

Bridal Buttercup card

My daughter was in need of a wedding card, and I had just been playing with the beautiful Fresh Picked Buttercups die from Spellbinders, when I had the idea that it would look stunning in all-white.  The set did not disappoint!  I cut the entire die out of Neenah Solar White 80lb cardstock, and glued it onto my 110lb base.

Since the bridesmaids are wearing pink, I decided to add just a hint of Spun Sugar Distress Oxide ink to the flower centers and buds, and then for a little glimmer, the centers were coated with clear Wink of Stella.

The sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio's Perfect Sentiments, embossed in gold, and stacked with 3 layers to give it a little dimension.  When I attached the flowers, I only added glue to the centers, and bent the petals upwards which gives the card a lovely delicate look.

Congrats Nik & Naza!

Citrus Bloom

Last week I pulled out a new-to-me stamp set from Pinkfresh Studio, inked up a bunch of florals to have on hand for cardmaking, and today I made one of my colourways into a card.  Here is Citrus Bloom:

I created my background by using Ocean Breeze and Fresh Pear inks on the top and bottom, then ran the panel through my Big Shot with the Diagonal Stitched Plaid coverplate. I used four of the Braided Circle dies and cut out my decorative circle from some cardstock in my stash.  I attached the floral sprays to the circle, and popped everything up with some 3D foam adhesive.  I used some gold metallic paint to add some soft spatters to everything.  

The sentiment is the Perfect Sentiments stamp and die set, gold embossed, and I added some Sparkling Champagne Metallic Pearls to finish it off.  I am entering this into the April monthly challenge on the Pinkfresh Studio blog - which has a circle theme.

Gardening Girlfriends!

I've always loved the Art Impressions Girlfriends!  This is the new 5798 - Gardening Girlfriends Set.  I haven't done a lot of Copic colouring in the last few years, so it was lovely to pull them out and colour up one of the images that comes in this set (stay tuned for more!):

This set works really well done with the Ai Watercolour line, as the pots are empty - and you can stamp in your choice of flowers.  I just sketched in my own, and used my Copics to colour them, and then outlined them with a black fineline marker.  I've used the 5835 - Mini Paperpack from Ai to put my card together, and popped up the image and sentiment (from 5817 - Potting Garden Shed Set) with 3D foam adhesive.

Donation cards

 In the midst of doing a craft room purge, I stopped to create 9 cards to donate - likely to Valentines for Veterans next winter.  I like to either give away or sell product that I don't want, but if paperpacks are already used, I'll use them up for something like this, rather than throw anything away.  Hoping I'll have a good pile of cards ready to go after a few months.