Watercolor bluebird

Hi Everyone.  Happy Saturday night.

I hope you all had a fabulous Saturday.  Tonight's card features one of my favorite sets – Every Moment… there is something about this set that really makes me smile.  Brenda can attest to the fact that when I saw it I grumbled and mumbled about the fact that it was obviously a Goldfinch and that I had never seen a Goldfinch on a bulrush.  However, once I got it and started playing around it with – I got over the "correctness" and just fell in love with the image.  This time, I decided to make the bird into a blue and yellow bird – straight out of my own imagination… but hey, that's what imagi
nation is all about, right?

I saw this fabulous sketch on icsketches.  It's an incredibly versatile sketch and I realized  that it was an ideal sketch to use some of the new DSP, too.  I really loved the sketch and I am in love with this Elegant Soiree DSP.

So, here's my imaginary blue/yellow/black bird amongst the bulrushes

Card recipe:

• Card stock:  Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla
• Stamps:  Every Moment, Matchbox Messages (sentiment)
• Inks:  Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Sahara Sand
• DSP:  Elegant Soiree
• Tools:  Scallop border punch, circle punches, Stampin' Dimensionals

Card instructions:

• Cut Soft Suede to A2 (score and fold at 5 1/2" with the fold on the left hand side)
• Cut a piece of Baja Breeze to 5 3/8 x 4 1/8 and adhere to card base
• Cut Elegant Soiree strips to 3 1/2" x 4 and adhere to Baja Breeze
• Cut strip of Soft Suede and punch using scallop border punch.  Adhere this strip over the Elegant Soiree. 
• Cut complementary Elegant Soiree piece 2" x 4" and adhere over the Baja Breeze and Soft Suede scallop strip
• Cut 3 squares – Soft Suede 2 7/8" x 3 1/8".   Baja Breeze 2 3/4 x 2 15/16.  Very Vanilla 2 5/8 x 2 3/4
• Stamp focal image using Stazon and color with your favorite markers. 
• Adhere Soft Suede layer to card base using snail.  Adhere Baja Breeze layer using dimensionals.  Adhere very Vanilla layer using Dimensionals
• Ink "just a little thanks" stamp using markers – I used Soft Suede, Baja Breeze and Always Artichoke and stamp onto Very Vanilla.  Punch out using 1 1/4" circular punch.  Punch out Baja Breeze layer using 1 3/8" punch.  Adhere to card.

Tips:

• Some of you have seen this tip before – but when coloring the eyes of anything – leave a little white spot – this gives life to the eye (thank  you Big Brother – I miss you :)…)
• When adding a sentiment layer to a focal point that has dimensionals underneath, ensure that you build up the layer that is against the card base.  In this case, I adhered the left side of the sentiment with Snail – but built up the right side of the sentiment with two layers of dimensionals.  Why two layers?  Because the Baja Breeze and the Very Vanilla layers were both built up using dimensionals.  Doing this, ensures that your sentiment is at the same level as the image
• When coloring something – like the bulrushes.  Look for a photograph that you can use for inspiration.  In this case, I used this photograph.  It's not a perfect match for what I did, but it did show me a couple of extra pieces to add to the coloring for interest.  The darker shadow on the left hand side of the bulrush heads.  The whiter/lighter part at the top and the brown stems.  I added the green to the leaves for additional interest.  So, you don't have to color it exactly, but it helps when you can see something and use it for inspiration

On a personal note.  The rain hasn't stopped.  This morning though was very cool – it felt almost fall like.  What a pleasant change from the heat and humidity.  Trish, I hope some of this is coming your way.

Our trip to the Farmer's Market was great this morning.  Lots of yummy stuff… mind you, not wonderful juicy, chin dripping peaches that Rach said she got from her Farmer's Market.  I cannot remember the last time I ate a peach that juicy.  I was jealous!

Shout out to Bethany tonight….. she is the most amazing young lady.  Brenda – you did good 🙂

Adelle, I saw your question about making the flowers.  I'll do a photo tutorial next week for you to show you how I did them.  They really are easy – the key is breaking down the fibers to make the paper more pliable.

As always, prayers for Trish, Germaine (back on the list for her pain), T, Pri, Arthur. 

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend – filled with love, laughter and joy.  Thank you for visiting my little area of the stamping blogosphere.  Your visits, your comments and your support are greatly appreciated.

Hugs

Jaydee