Tuesday 28 July 2015

The joy of watercolours


As much as I love all my DT assignments (and in a few days I have another guest DT spot that I'm dying to share with you), sometimes creating for them can be a bit restrictive, particularly if working with sponsor images that you get assigned to. So today I enjoyed the total and absolute freedom of just creating a card based on a few inspiring challenges and then just sitting down with some stamps, a brush and some inks. I love watercolours, they are my current favourite.

Today's card was inspired by a few challenges. First of all I was inspired by this week's CAS-ology cue card, Wings. I immediately knew I wanted to use my STAMPlorations gorgeous hummingbird. I was also inspired by the Flower theme over at Make My Monday. I also wanted to challenge myself by using the colour combo over at ColourQ, which this time was very far outside my comfort zone. I did love the fact that I got to use two of my new Tim Holtz inks, Abandoned Coral and Fossilized Amber. I would also like to link up with Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is "No ordinary paper". I used my favourite type of paper, watercolour paper. Last but not least I would like to link up over at the STAMPlorations Anything Goes challenge.



For my card, I stamped the hummingbird in Scattered Straw distress ink, and the flower in Abandoned Coral onto watercolour paper. Then I used Scattered Straw, Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber and Chipped Sapphire to watercolour the image. I created the sentiment by combining a sentiment from the STAMPlorations Bloom Sketches stamp set and a Lawn Fawn die cut. Last, I cut the image using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies and added a few sequins. I do like how it turned out, despite using a  colour combo which was very far outside my comfort zone. I absolutely adore these stamps, and the way the distress paints behave when you use them as watercolours. They blend so perfectly!

Card: Daler&Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine watercolour paper, 240 gsm coloured kraft card navy
Stamps: STAMPlorations Stamp Lab Hummingbird and Bloom Sketches
Inks: Tim Holtz distress inks in Scattered Straw, Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber and Chipped Sapphire
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Scripty Hugs die, sequins from my stash


10 comments:

Karen Letchworth said...

I absolutely LOVE this beautiful card. I would like to warmly invite you to share your amazing art with us at Word Art Wednesday, We'd enjoy having you play along, if you can, and have you share your talents with us. It would be a huge blessing to me and I really hope you will join us. We offer awesome prizes each week in our Anything Goes challenges. You can find us here:
Word Art Wednesday
http://www.cropstop.com/blog/uncategorized/linky-party-6-anything-goes/

Blessings,
Karen Letchworth, Blog Owner
Word Art Wednesday

Joyce said...

Great job of combining challenges, and I am so happy that you included CASology in your fun today. This is a beautiful card, and that hummingbird is stunning--perfectly colored, as is your flower.

Marina said...

Love the vibrant colours on this beautiful card. Thank you for joining us at Make My Monday. Marina DT

Melissa said...

Beautiful, rich colors! Love that hummingbird...one of the most intriguing creatures in nature!
Thanks so much for joining us over at CASology this week! :)

Andrea Ockey Parr said...

Wow! I hear you on how it feels restrictive sometimes when we're assigned crafts to do. Though I'm not in that boat now, I was on a Design Team several years ago that made me use the ugliest piece of patterned paper known to man. I ended up coating the whole thing with Gesso before my retinas burned out! :) But what a gorgeous creation you've made here! I love the image of the hummingbird and how skillfully you've blended your colors together. What a great sentiment and this card would be so perfect for many occasions. Love the bit of sequin bling you added, too! Keep up the good work and thanks so much for sharing your talents with us for this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

Andrea Ockey Parr said...

Wow! I hear you on how it feels restrictive sometimes when we're assigned crafts to do. Though I'm not in that boat now, I was on a Design Team several years ago that made me use the ugliest piece of patterned paper known to man. I ended up coating the whole thing with Gesso before my retinas burned out! :) But what a gorgeous creation you've made here! I love the image of the hummingbird and how skillfully you've blended your colors together. What a great sentiment and this card would be so perfect for many occasions. Love the bit of sequin bling you added, too! Keep up the good work and thanks so much for sharing your talents with us for this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

Lagene said...

Beautiful card! Lovely water coloring!

Jen W. said...

Gorgeous watercolouring and use of the colour combo. Thanks for playing along with CASology this week!

Sylvia said...

Lovely card, beautiful hummingbird! Thanks for joining in the fun at the colourQ!

Lisa Elton said...

This is wonderful, love the hummingbird! Thanks for joining us at ColourQ!