I should start by saying a big thank you for the abundance of comments, in the last couple of days! I was surprised to see the number of visitors peak up a lot recently, it’s higher than ever - which took me by surprise, but made my heart sing none the less. This week was nothing short of hectic, with the Waltzingmouse release on top of my usual commitments, but it was a rewarding experience which gave me an extra kick of mojo 🙂

So, what’s on the agenda this morning? I’m happy to join the Cloud 9 Blog Hop, especially that somehow I missed the last month’s installment…

The inspiration photo is nothing short of a stunner, and as much as it screams ‘watercolouring’ & I couldn’t think of anything better than some sort of artsy approach to my submission, I didn’t quite know how to tackle it. In the end, instead of the watercolours I settled down for spray mists - but not in the usual way… let me show the card first:

I really wanted to show you how I did the trick with the foliage and the whole thing, but I was making this card late in the evening and the lighting was less than perfect for taking step-by-step photos. Let me know if you’d prefer that to the description I’ll give you, and I’ll produce something over the next few weeks 🙂

Basically, I sprayed several different mists on a large acrylic block (any other flat, non-porous surface will do - think big dinner plate, but be aware of the staining that may occur if there are any cracks/imperfections at all), and let them mix together just a little bit. Then I took the large foliage stamp from Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions, and pressed against the puddle of colour. I made sure that I didn’t spray too much on the surface in the first place, it’s easy to pick too much liquid and stamp a blurred impression.
I stamped several times on the watercolour paper, wiping down the stamp before inking it up again each time.

The next step was to stamp the dogwood branches from Flora & Fauna, with Memento Tuxedo Black, across the bottom of the card. I added some Copic colouring to the blooms/leaves, using artsy, uneven strokes that neither cover the whole area, nor stay within the lines. I used the lightest shades of pinks and greens and Colouress Blender, to tone down any sharp edges.

Next, I sponged some aqua & light pink around the foliage, using Versa Color pigment inks. I stayed off the the stamped areas wherever I could, and dabbed the ink gently in rather than used the usual circular moves. I didn’t want to compromise the sharpness & brightness.

Lastly, I white embossed the wording from Defining Words, across the bottom of the card, and stamped “thank you” from Filigreed Frames in Memento Olive Grove, a wee bit off the edge of the card.

I’m also entering this card into The Ombre Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. I can’t say that I fully understand the idea behind ombre, as I never heard of this word before I stumbled upon it being mentioned in the craft industry (I always used the word ‘gradient’ instead). However, if I’m correct that the word means a smooth transition of colour, not only from the lightest shade to the darkest one, but also from one colour to another, then I think I’m good to go 🙂

Be sweet 🙂