Hello friends,  Amy here with a twist on the cute Fairy Dance stamp set. As we near the month of April I can’t help but recite the old adage, ‘April showers bring May flowers.’ So when it came time to sit down and get crafty, my first thought was of all the fun rainy day themed sets that Hello Bluebird has to choose from. I came across the Puddle Play set full of adorable elephants but it was the stand-alone umbrella stamp that really got my creative wheels turning. I had flipped past the Fairy Dance set just before Puddle Play and it dawned on me that the umbrella was the perfect size to pair with the fairies and turn them into some rainy day friends. Once the idea was in my head I had to make it happen.

To build my one layer scene I stamped the umbrellas first using Memento rich cocoa ink. I then  masked them and using my Misti stamp platform, lined up two of the dancing fairies to look like they were holding the umbrella handles, using the same dark brown ink. I then masked the fairies as well, so I could stamp the Mushroom House Background stamp right over top using a lighter Memento desert sand ink. Finally, I added a little puddle from the Elephant Friends stamp set in a light blue ink to complete the scene. By stamping the background with a lighter ink it automatically recedes further back in the distance when compared to the darker inked characters. I knew this would be extremely helpful when it came time to color the falling rain throughout the scene.

Not only did I use a lighter ink but I also colored the background with relatively light and de-saturated Copic marker colors. This decision to steer clear of any bright and bold colors really helped to create the illusion of a heavy rainfall washing everything out once I added the vertical brush strokes of light blue-green marker over top of everything. Finally, the secret ingredient to any rainy day scene coloring is to grab a white gel pen once all your marker work is done and add in a few white vertical lines falling from the top of the card to the bottom. This adds an extra level of dimension that just can’t be beat. I don’t think anyone could argue that these fairy friends aren’t enjoying their sudden spring shower. 🙂

Thanks for dropping by the Hello Bluebird blog today, stay crafty my friends!