Sky’s the Limit

Happy Wednesday everyone! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Today I am combining a couple of challenges for this card I’ve created… the Simon Says Stamp “Add a Little Texture” Wednesday challenge really inspired me to add a lot of interest and texture to this card, and the layout was inspired by the Freshly Made Sketches challenge #174.

I love the hot air balloon in the Lawn Fawn “Blue Skies” stamp set, and thought it would be fun to use a bright and bold balloon as the focal image for this card. Because I wanted to have a lot of texture, I did my stamping on some textured watercolor paper with StazOn Jet Black ink.

I began adding high concentrations of Tim Holtz distress inks with a lightly damp paintbrush. Since I wanted the balloon to have bold tones, I used very little water when applying my ink to the image, allowing for more pigment to sit on top of the paper, rather than penetrate within. The inks I used for the balloon are Festive Berries, Wild Honey, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick, Tea Dye and Walnut Stain. Once my image was dry, I went over it with Wink of Stella clear glitter and tied a length of yellow baker’s twine around the balloon into a bow.

Moving on to the clouds, I stamped the two cloud images that are included in the “Blue Skies” set onto a separate piece of watercolor paper. With some Ranger Texture Paste and a paintbrush I use exclusively for this technique, I painted the texture paste onto my clouds very loosely, allowing the peaks and valleys to remain in helping mimic the texture of a cloud. I allowed my clouds to dry fully before fussy cutting them out and covering them with Wink of Stella clear glitter.

The background of my scene is trimmed from some watercolor paper at 4″ x 5 1/4″.  I used the Memory Box Starry Nights stencil and some Peacock Feathers distress ink to create a diagonal pattern across the panel, and flicked on some droplets of Heidi Swapp Mint color shine. I also took the tiny star stamp from the “Blue Skies” set, and stamped it a few times around the panel in some Jet Black StazOn ink. I inked all the edges of my panel with some gray ink, just to help soften things a little.

I took a sentiment from the “Blue Skies” set, and stamped it in the lower left of my card with some Versamark ink, before sprinkling on some black embossing powder. Using the idea of a diagonal as a guide for placing my balloon and clouds onto my image, I adhered them onto my card base with both foam tape and regular adhesive.

Moving onto my card base, I cut and folded a piece of white cardstock down to an A2 sized card. I adhered a piece of teal and white patterned paper at an angle, and inked the edges with some teal ink. Finally, I attached my watercolor panel to the card with some foam tape… and that finishes it all off!

I absolutely love this Lawn Fawn stamp set; it has such adorable images, and this card in particular would make a great encouragement or congrats card! I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s tutorial… Thanks for stopping by!

Challenges

This card is submitted into the Freshly Made Sketches challenge # 174, and the Simon Says Stamp “Add a Little Texture” Wednesday challenge.

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