Saturday, January 8, 2022

Fairy Happy Birthday

 Hello again, hope you are all doing well. My card today was created for challenges involving a clean and simple design, loose water coloring, flying, flowers, blues and a few more. I wanted to finally use the Avery Elle Floral Notes stamp and die I'd bought last year to do a loose water coloring technique. I had a lot of fun even though my layout didn't exactly work out as originally envisioned, and I got to do all hand stamping this time. 
My A7 sized card has a light blue SU card base, then a dark blue paper to thinly mat the white Springhill Digital card front surface, on which I stamped the fairy girl (LCD's Ballerina with Flowers) with Versafine ink and let dry before coloring her with my new Zig Clean Color brush markers and Sakura metallic glitter gel pen. Meanwhile, on a sheet of Ranger Distress Water Color card on a craft sheet, I painted a loose wash of different shades of blues watercolors, dried with heat tool, then went back and added more layers by pressing the card into the remains of the paint sprayed with water on my craft sheet, drying each layer, until I was happy with it. I stamped the Floral Notes frame on the water colored card, clear heat embossed it and then die cut it. I also stamped and clear heat embossed the Lavinia sentiment on this same card and then hand cut it out and edged it with a black Promarker.
I forgot to take a photo of the water colored card before stamping/die cutting but here it is afterwards so you can get an idea of the technique.

  
My water colors: my Zig Clean Colors 96 at top, and then my "good" water colors charts that are shaped exactly like the storage palettes I use. I have squeezed my tube paints out into two Richeson lockbox palettes which work very well for me, especially since I go long stretches between uses. For this card, I worked with the 4 blues shown on #1 and the blue-greens shown on #2. 
  
Here is the Splitcoaststampers sketch that I loosely followed. I originally wanted to stamp the fairy standing straight up with the floral corner surrounding her, as if she was hiding under them, but I couldn't get all of her in there. Then I realized I needed her to be in flight or preparing to in order to fit LCD's Let's Fly theme, so I ended up stamping her at a diagonal. LOL, I've been corrupted by working for so long with digital images that can be resized, but not an option with physical stamps. 😂 At any rate, I like her fine this way, she has picked her a few flowers and is ready to fly away. I used a Fiskars punch in the corners of the white card for interest, but otherwise kept as much white space as I could.
After die cutting the floral frame, I took a small round wet brush loaded with paint and "dotted" the flower pedals, working to loosely guide the paint flow. I got still more interesting blends of the blues and blue-greens this way with more intense color. I'd seen a video of this technique a while back and it was fun being messy and not having to try to stay in the lines! I added a bit of Silver Shadow metallic gel pen to the 2 big round seed pods and coated all the flower centers with the metallic glitter gel pen. The fairy's wings and magic wind at her feet got some gel penning too. The sentiment strip got brushed with clear Wink of Stella.
Inside the card, I used more of the paper from the front and I printed out a digital sentiment I'd found long ago on Pinterest. I used a very old Sassafras Las floral border stamp but wanted a gradation of color, so I got out my even older Ranger Big & Juicy Rainbow pads to see if they still had ink - yes! They are still juicy after at least a decade. So that's the ink I used on the borders.
Just a Kaiserkraft hand-stamped siggie on the card back...
and a close-up to show the glittery shine...
and another shot where I caught the wings' glittery shine. 
And a final view. Thanks for visiting and until next time stay well and craft on! xoxo

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
I used LCD Ballerina with Flowers stamp
First time to ink up/cut with the Avery Elle Floral Notes stamp/die
Also used my new Zig Clean Color markers
First time to ink up/cut with the Avery Elle Floral Notes stamp/die
Also used my new Zig Clean Color markers

34 comments:

Darlene said...

What a beautiful creation Aimslee and awesome techniques! Thanks so much for playing in our challenge at Colorful Options!
Darlene
COLORFUL OPTIONS CHALLENGE
DAR’S CRAFTY CREATIONS

Makira said...

Aimeslee, this card is fabulous! 💙💙💙 Your little fairy is precious. Thanks again for joining us at the Colorful Options Challenge. Cheers, Makira CO DT

Nat said...

An unusual,but striking design! Thanks for sharing at PFM
Natx

nancy littrell said...

Thank you Aimslee for sharing your pretty loosely watercolored card with us at CAS Mix Up. I liked seeing your loosely WC backgound..even if it was after you cut out your images:-) Such a sweet glittery girl. Hugs...Nancy

Lynda said...

Love the outcome of all that work - and love the idea of getting messy to create what you wanted - something I think I'm going to have a go at myself. Thank you for sharing and joining us at Cardz 4 Galz xx Lynda/Loopyloo Dt

Chana Malkah said...

The juice was definitely worth the squeeze! Great work and a beautiful outcome!

Thanks so much for dropping this wonderful project into our mailbox at 613 Avenue Create!
Hugz,
Chana Malkah,
A Place To Start, Owner
613 Avenue Create, Owner
Redora Lee Designs , My Blog
Shopping Our Stash, DT

brenda said...

A gorgeous colour palette Aimeslee and such an eye catching design, thanks so much for sharing with us at Stamping Sensations challenge. It would also fit in perfectly at We Love Stamping!!

B x

Viv said...

Lovely to see this pretty loose watercoloured card in our gallery at CAS Mix Up and thanks for sharing!

Rain said...

What a beautiful card, and such a sweet little fairy!!! I love the colours!! ♥

Diane said...

Beautifully created Fairy card! Thank you for joining our challenge and fun at colorful Options!
Diane CO DT {Nellies Nest}

Sue said...

This is so pretty Aimeslee, and I love how you've decorated the inside of your card too! Thank you so much for joining in with our challenge at Lost Coast Designs, and have a very happy week, Sue xx

Dawn Phillips said...

Beautiful and I love the colours. Thanks for joining us at Cardz4galz. Love Dawn x

Arlene said...

I love the different blues in your flowers. Lovely card. So glad you joined us at Die Cut Divas Flower Challenge!

ahlers5 said...

Okay, I have to play catch up again. This homeschool thing is killing me. I can't stand not having any time to myself. What a cute card. The water coloring is wonderful. I wish I had more time to spend on my cards. Everything is a rush job. I did get my first Christmas card on Splitcoast, though. Only two a month foe me this year. I finally like themes they chose.

Alice (scrAPpamondo) said...

Beautiful card with all those blues and the loose washing technique. Love the fairy, the glitter and metallic and the whole design. The inside is beautiful too! Thanks for sharing with us at We Love Stamping!

Bonnie said...

What a pretty blend of colors, Aimeslee! A beautiful border for this sweet fairy! Thanks so much for sharing with us at CAS Mix Up!

Laurie said...

This little girl with the butterfly wings is one of my favorite Lost Coast stamps and one of the first I ever got. I love your vivid blues and aquas and the symmetry of all your elements. Thanks for joining the Lost Coast Design Challenge!

brenda said...

Me again Aimslee, just wanted to thank you for linking up at We Love Stamping.

B x

craftytrog said...

A beautiful card!

Ellibelle said...

A fabulous design, love the pretty image and great choice of colors!
Thank you so much for sharing this month at my Crafty Wednesday challenge where this month's optional theme is "Something New". Hope to see you back there again soon!
Ellie
Ellibelle's Corner

Elaine said...

Beautiful shades of blue. Thanks for joining Passion for Markers. Elaine

Alyson Mayo said...

I really like that idea of a watercolour wash - I haven't had a lot of success with that technique but it may be time to try it again. Your fairly is beautiful - love the colours you used!

Creaine said...

This looks beautiful!! Thanks for joining us at Pearly Sparkles Challenge. Hope to see you again next time.
DT Ine http://creaine-cards.blogspot.nl/
owner: http://mixedmedialovers.blogspot.com

pinky said...

Beautiful project and I love your background! Thanks so much for joining us at Stamping Sensations this month.
Pinky

The Crafty Den said...

What a pretty card Aimeslee. The images are gorgeous and your colouring is perfect. Thank you for sharing with us at Passion for Markers and good luck in the prize draw. Hugs, Denise x

mirtillamente said...

Great colour palette, background looks beautiful!
Thanks for taking part in the Mirtillamente Challenge!
°Eve / mlj°° owner & designer //Mirtillamente

Cazro said...

Happy new year. A very pretry fairy card. Thanks for joining in the fun at Cardz 4 Galz. Caz. DT.

Chana Malkah said...

Thanks, for creating with us at A Place To Start!
Hugz,
Chana Malkah,
A Place To Start, Owner
613 Avenue Create, Owner
Redora Lee Designs , My Blog
Shopping Our Stash, DT

My Paper Epiphany said...

Such a sweet Fairy card! I love your pretty loose water-colouring in my fave colours! Thanks so much for joining us at CAS Mix Up:)

Jackie C said...

Such a sweet project!
So glad you have shared this with us at 613 Avenue Create.
Please come back again!
The best of luck with your entry.
Jackie, DT member at 613 xx

Judy McKay said...

Love your fairy card. Very cute.
Thank you for joining us at 613 Avenue Create this month. Hope to see you back here again soon. Judy DT

Mervi said...

Fabulous images and beautiful card!
Thank you so much for sharing at We Love Stamping January Challenge;-))m

BożenA said...

You've managed to combine so many ideas in one card so perfectly. Great design, brilliant concept and amazing workmanship.
Thank you for joining our challenge at HLS CAS.
BożenA DT HLS CAS

ionabunny said...

Delightful blue and white card with that lovely Lost Coast Designs ballerina. Thanks for joining the fun at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity. Hugz