Hello Watercolor Card #tgifc65

I made today's card in response to the challenge blog "TGIF Challenges". The challenge  ( #tgifc65 ) was to cut something out and use it on your project. It could be die cut, fussy cut, or even punched. You just had to CUT something out. My card used die cutting, using my Sizzix Big Shot and two different die sets. I was also inspired by Kristina Werner's blog post from a couple days ago where she watercolored her background. You can see her post here: http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=16235

I used a piece of watercolor paper that was 5 inches wide by 3-3/4 inches high. I sprayed both sides with water to help prevent it from curling up on me while I was painting it. and to also help the ink to blend together and spread.  I squeezed a few drops of Melon Mambo ink refill into the lid of it's corresponding ink pad, and also squeezed a few drops of Calypso Coral ink refill into the lid of it's corresponding ink pad. Then I took one of my aqua painters, loaded up my aqua brush with water and some of the Melon Mambo re-inker and started painting along the top of the wet watercolor paper. I painted about 1-1/4 inches and then I cleaned out my brush. Then, I picked up some of the Calypso Coral with my aqua brush and started to paint underneath the Melon Mambo. I wanted the two colors to blend so I went over the first color close to where I had stopped painting to mix the two colors slightly. (Remember, my paper is pretty wet, so the color was being pulled down by gravity a bit.) I used less and less ink the closer I got to the bottom, so that it would become lighter and lighter. After the paper dried (I helped it out a bit by using my heat tool), I wanted to give it the look of having little water droplets splattered on it. I wasn't sure if I actually dripped water on it, if it would look like I wanted it to, so I decided to use one of the splatter stamps from the "Gorgeous Grunge" stamp set. I used Whisper White craft ink, and I really like how it turned out. I think it looks great, and I love the colors! I also decided to turn the watercolor paper upside down so that the Melon Mambo was on the bottom instead of at the top so that it didn't feel so top-heavy.

 All supplies used are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp set: Gorgeous Grunge

Inks: Melon Mambo Classic Ink Refill, Calypso Coral Classic Ink Refill , Whisper White Craft Pad

Card stock: Whisper White Thick, Daffodil Delight

Accessories: Watercolor Paper, Aqua Painter, Big Shot, Hello You Thinlits Dies, Bloomin' Heart Thinlits Dies, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Dimensionals

Now, like I mentioned earlier, the TGIF challenge was to use something you cut out on your project, so I decided to use the "Hello You" Thinlits Dies, and also the "Bloomin' Heart" Thinlits Dies. I layered the little flower dies to give them some dimension, and on the greeting, I cut out four "hello" dies. I layered all four of them one on top of the other to give it some depth also.

Here is a picture of the challenge post from TGIF Challenges blog:

I hope you like my card today, and that it might inspire you to create something yourself!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kathryn