Hello!  This is Nicky back with you today and I’m delighted to be sharing this watercolour painted card using the Fairy Garden and Garden Friends stamp sets which formed a part of the Hello Bluebird Stamps new release that went live on April 16th!

A panel of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock was ink blended with Distress Inks in Crushed Olive, Squeezed Lemonade and Broken China.   Water splashes were added and quickly blotted up and then I squished a little of the green ink onto my craft mat, I added a drop of water to loosen it and then splattered some of that to further distress the background.  The panel was die cut with a wonky stitch edge and set to one side for later.

On Strathmore Bristol Smooth I stamped the images I selected for my scene from both stamp sets using Ranger Archival Ink in Potting Soil.  I watercolour painted each element using the following palette of colours – Kuretake Zigs in Vanilla, Blush, Light Pink, Beige, Haze Blue, Mid Green, Light Green, Light Violet and Cobalt Blue.  I also used a Tombow ABT in shade 991.  Points were highlighted with a white gel pen and fussy cut.

Each element was either glued directly into the scene or backed with one or even two layers of dimensional foam tape to build some fun depth.  The sentiment and musical notes were stamped with the same Archival Ink into the gaps I’d created in advance to accommodate them.

The final touches were to adhere some sequins (for dewdrops) and I also used Stickles glitter in ‘Crystal’ on the fairy wings and dotted into the background as well for a little added magic as the card is handled.

So happy that you came by the blog today to read and I look forward to being back with a new project to share next month.

Happy crafting everybody!

Nicky x