Hello hummingbird

I have to admit I have over-indulged lately. First there was the Cambridge Satchel Company sale, and I mean... it only makes sense, right? I have wanted one of their gorgeous leather satchels for ages, so when it turned out they are on sale, it's just like putting money in the bank. Never mind that I have to pay for my holiday as well from this month's budget... And then I finally caved in and ordered myself a few stamp sets from STAMPlorations. I have been lusting after the sunflower stamp set as well as the sugar rush set for ages and I thought as I'm already so far over budget this month, a bit more won't make any difference. I don't know if anyone can fault that logic? And there was  a very generous offer of free stamps to go with the order, so I just could not refuse. 

Anyhow, my beautiful stamps made it across the Atlantic with lightning speed arriving today and what else is a girl to do than skip the gym and come straight home for some crafty time? The large hummingbird and the morning glory stamps looked perfect for my favourite technique - watercolouring. So off I went and stamped them onto watercolour cardstock in Staz-on ink. I also got to use my other favourite, masking. I think one layered cards with masked images just look so elegant, and I get a childlike feel of excitement to see how it all turned out when you remove the mask and magically you have your images in the foreground and background. I used Stampin' Up markers to colour onto a clear block, and used the ink to watercolour the image. All there was to do was to stamp the simple little sentiment and mat onto coloured card.

My inspiration for this card came from a few challenges. Firstly I was inspired by the bright and summery colour combo over at Colour Me...! I was also inspired by the sketch over at STAMPlorations, althought I did turn it over on the side instead of using it just "as is". I was also inspired by the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is to use your favourite technique or products. I'm also linking up at Addicted to Stamps for their 3rd Birthday Challenge (Happy Birthday Addicted to Stamps!!) with the theme Clean and Simple. Last but not least I'm linking up over at the STAMPlorations Anything Goes challenge where you can link up anything created using STAMPlorations products.

Card: Daler&Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine Watercolour paper, Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay and Rich Razzleberry card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Stamp Lab Hummingbird and Morning Glory
Ink: Tsukineko Staz-on Jet Black, Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive