Happy You Day

Hello again, Friends. Hope your weekend's been a good one. Honey and I blurted out random song lyrics a lot, lol. We spend every hour together and so sometimes we get goofy. I'm sharing a birthday card today that I created with some challenges in mind that took me out of my comfort zone and I lived to tell about it!

First off, it's a CAS card (always a struggle) but closely following My Favorite Thing's current sketch helped a lot. Secondly, I came up with a way to do the Stencil Tracing Technique challenge at CAS Mix Up with 2 different stencils. Thirdly, I used some really bright and bold orange shades for the Tantalizing Tangerine Challenge at Rainbow. And I made a watercolor mixed media card for A Vintage Journey's Watercolor Wonders Callenge. There's also the NBUS Challenge and Country View's... they are all listed as usual at the end. :-)

I resized the sketch to 5x7 in PSE. I also shortened the sentiment strip considerably to go better with my peony. I also added the dotted accents. Otherwise, I stuck like glue to the design, even hanging my white mat flush up against the left spine so to keep the design of the negative circle cut out (aperture).

Ok, I took progress shots that will hopefully explain the method to my madness:

I began by clearing up my confusion about the color as I don't eat tangerines and have not seen one for a while. Good old Google helped out. I learned that the diff between regular old orange and tangerine is that tangerine is more red-orange and bolder. I saw this while creating because I chose an SU card stock that was tangerine-ish so I thought I did good but it kept looking pink/red to me in different lights. Just know I absolutely did not use any pink or red! lol

  

I found these on Pinterest to use as reference photos. I learned that there really is a peony grown that's tangerine orange, with yellow and orange highlights.

  

Ok so first thing I did was stamp the peony and stem on Distress Watercolor card with VersaFine Clair Summertime and Shady Lane inks and heat-embossed in clear. Then I cut the peony with my Coluzzle big circle. Then I cut the larger circle aperture with the Coluzzle, I used the cut out piece to draw a circle a bit larger on my orange base. Then I was ready to stencil trace a sunburst on the orange card base with a Sheena 7x7 Rays stencil. I used a very sharp Polychronos yellow pencil to trace. Once it was all traced, I colored the sunburst with pencils and then brushed on yellow Wink of Stella and let it dry well.

Here's a photo of a Coluzzle if you are not familiar:

You put your paper under the clear template and insert the swivel knife into the channel you've chosen and follow it around while it cuts. I was able to stop and work around the leaves with this tool to get the Out of the Box Technique result... easier for me than using a die. Plus, I was going to have to use the Coluzzle for the larger circle aperture since I don't have any dies that large.

Next, I painted the peony using Sennelier Orange as my tangerine color, along with Permanent Orange and a bit of Vermilion. I had some dark yellow that I perked up with some Solar Flare Nuvo Shimmer Powder. I used my reference photos and finally got through it. I need tons more practice and have bought some watercolor-friendly stamps for practice (like I don't have plenty already! Sheesh!)

Okay so at this point I thought it needed some embellishments for accent, but I needed to keep this one flat for mailing, so I decided to get out this Stencil Girl Bubbles stencil and stencil-trace some bubble dots. For this I used an orange Zebra Sarasa gel pen. I let that dry while pondering whether I was finished or not.

I decided that I was not finished. I just had to color the dots with the closest match I had to the tangerine, to ground the design. I found a Spectrum Noir OR3 alcohol marker that matched well, although in these photos it looks red and it isn't. Just a deep bold tangerine orange. And of course, some Wink of Stella to top each dot! And then, in a spontaneous move that shocked even me, I grabbed a white Sharpie paint pen, primed it and tried splattering it. I used self-control (but it was tough not to keep splattering just one more time...). That was cool. I may splatter again sometime! LOL

Now I'm finished. Isn't orange such a juicy and happy color? It definitely lifted my spirits while creating it!

I'm a happy girl as well. I set off to do this (I got a wild hair as we say in Texas) and I did it without messing anything up! Yay! Thanks so much for dropping by and hope your week goes happy, well and safe! XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
1.  MFT Wednesday Sketch #498 -- sketch is shown above
2.  CAS Mix Up July Challenge: Stencil Tracing -- my process and materials are explained in post 

3.  Rainbow Card Challenge #19: Tantalizing Tangerine  -- After carefully studying the graphic, I used bright orange, yellow, green for the leaves and stem, and white.

4. Mix It Up Challenge #39: AG + Opt. Open Technique -- My optional technique is the Out of the Box Technique on the leaves
5. A Vintage Journey: Watercolor Wonders -- I've made a mixed media card using stamping, heat-embossing, watercolors, stenciling, pencil, glitter and paint splatters.
6.  Ai Challenge #287: Sparkle & Shine -- I've got lots of that, used Wink of Stella in yellow and clear, and also used Nuvo Shimmer Powder in my yellow watercolor.  

7.  Country View Challenge: Do What Makes You Happy -- I successfully painted a peony to my liking with watercolors and I splattered white paint on a card for the first time! On Purpose! LOL :-) -- I love challenges even if they scare me.
8.  Outlawz Twisted Thursday 7/16-29th: AG + Opt. Polka Dots
9.  NBUS Challenge #16: AAG with Never Before Used Schtuff! -- My NBUS items are the MFT peony stamp and the MFT sentiment and die, all new to me.