Monday, May 2, 2016

Sunflower Sunshine


Hello and a sunshiney-happy Tuesday to you all!  We’re in for a scorcher of a week here.  Temperatures in the high 20’s Celcius all week which is crazy for us in May.  I’m watering my tender little spring flowers so they can tolerate this heat.  It’s also the time of year when we start to get a whole lot of sunshine in our long days. Tuesday the sun will rise at 5:56 am and set at 9:05 pm....in a month that will be 4 am and almost 11 pm.  I LOVE it!  

I thought I’d bring you some lovely sunshine and flowers in card form today since our theme for one more week at The Cat’s Pajamas is Flowers!  


I’m just giddy about this new set, Sketchy Flowers!  It’s so gorgeous and so versatile!  I got to get inky with some watercolouring on this one.  First I dampened the paper with my waterbrush and let it soak in a little.  Next I inked up the solid part of the sunflower set in Daffodil Delight ink (SU) and stamped it on the paper.  Because the paper was damp, the ink spreads a little and has a nice softened effect.  Next I inked up that same sunflower center with a Early Espresso marker and stamped it in the center of the bloom.  Then, I let the paper dry and I took the outline stamp of the sunflower image and inked it in Daffodil ink again, and stamped the outline of the flower.  I didn’t want it to be too dark, so it would keep that watercolour wash look, but it does give some definition to the flowers.  

I kept that same process for all the other blooms and leaves, and then as a final step, I took out my Inktense pencils and added in some details to the petals and leaves in orange, deep pink and green.  I washed that out a little with my waterbrush and then splattered some orange onto the paper as well.  Its a really easy way to “cheat” watercolour.  

I used a stitched die to cut into the watercoloured panel and then sunk the center of the design right into the paper and popped up the outer frame.  


Lastly, I added a great big hello with our new Hello There CutUps die, just trimming off the “there” from the die cut piece, and then added the Sunshine sentiment from our new Sending You set, embossed on vellum.  I love how earthy and cheerful this turned out!  I often call people “sunshine” so I know a lot of people I could this to.  

So we hope you can jump in on our Flowers Challenge at TCP!  You could win a $10 gift certificate to the store, just for playing along!  You have one more week! 

But have you also heard about our Spring Blog Hop?  All you need to do is create something with our TCP goodies and link up , and you could win a $50 gift certificate!  WOW!  Think of all the great new TCP stuff you could get!  

Thanks for joining me today...I hope you feel my happy sunshine!  





6 comments:

Lyn said...

Wow this really is like a piece of Artwork <3 beautiful

CherylQuilts said...

Christine, this is gorgeous, and I love how you've "framed" these sunflowers -- some of my favorite flowers! And what a fabulous sentiment treatment! Stunning! Hugs!

Conniecrafter said...

Wow I didn't realize the sun was out for that long up there, it must be so hard to go to sleep when it is light so late. I think I could never live in Alaska where there is so much light for a season and then so much dark.
Your flowers are just beautiful, love the colors and the blending is so pretty!

Leslie Miller said...

This is so beautiful it simply leaves me with mouth agape. I read every word of your description and I don't think there's much "cheating" of watercoloring there. You applied some real skills. Just amazing. We've been having some of those hot days, too. Back to a little dampage now to cool things off. No complaints here. The sun will be back soon. Enjoy your day, Christine!

Bobbi-spapertrail.blogspot.com said...

Christine, this is simply breathtaking! I cannot stop staring at it! I love how the colors blend so well. Sunflowers are so uplifting, and this card is exactly that! I think I need to find those Inktense pencils, although trust me, I have so many supplies I haven't used, it's terrible. But, I really need to go buy all of these products you've used here, and re-create this gorgeous card! Thank you so much for your wonderful inspiration! LOVE!

Deborah said...

Christine this is my first time visiting your blog. Came here from Cat's Pajamas and let me tell you this will not be my last trip here. This card is stunning in fact I hat to just call it a card because it's really a work of art!. I scrolled through your blog with a dropped chin you are amazing! As I said before I will be back tfs.