Southern Girls Challenge ~ Flowers

A big hello to all my long lost blog buddies, oh no, that's right, it's me who's been long lost! I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. I know it's Summer in the UK and you're all enjoying the sunshine and your holibobs, but it's Winter here and we've been under house arrest with horrid Winter bugs for far too long. So although we've been bug free this past week, I have still felt the Winter funk and just didn't have the will to craft! I know right, beyond tragic to have lost the will to craft!! But gladly, making my DT card for the gorgeous Southern Girlies, put me back in the mood for a little crafty joy and sunshine. 

It's time to be kicking off a new challenge at Southern Girls and this week we've such a lovely theme for you, it's 'Flowers'. So I went all dreamy and used watercolours on my make for this challenge. I'd love to know what you think of it. I'm still new to the distress markers, but this was such fun to make. It was a really grey day when I was trying to capture these pics, so they're a little darker than they should be. You can't tell at all, that the card base is a lovely warm plum colour and really sets off the deeper pinky tones in the card.

This fabulous stamp is from our sponsor this challenge - Oddball Art Stamps. This stamp is Sweet Sai Fairy and I think she's just lovely. I coloured her with Distress Inks and although I'd love to say those divine watercolour blooms are also my handiwork, I have to confess they are in fact a gorgeous digital paper, from Craftberry Bush, which I've merged with Sai and printed onto my watercolour paper. I'm so pleased with how this came out, right down to the little leaves I had to add in when the merge chopped a few leaves off to the left of Sai's face. Did you spot that?

The sentiment stamp I've used is a lovely one I picked up from the Ally Pally craft fair years ago and reads...

"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature" Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I didn't want to use my dark green ink for this, as it would have been too stark a contrast to the lovely soft colours I'd used for Sai, but you do have to be close up to read the detail as the paler ink is a bit trickier to read. So I've stamped the same sentiment again inside the card in darker green ink.

Did you also notice my sneaky trick with Sai's colouring? I really wanted a soft look but didn't want grayscale as I really can't do that 'no lines' colouring justice. But I wanted a softer look that would tone in with the green in the flowers. So I changed the line colour of the digi to green and I'm so happy with the effect. I think it worked rather well for this card. Now squint a bit when you look at the colouring on Sai, I'm still getting the hang of the Distress Markers! I really love the soft wash they give you and though I've not got my shading down yet, I do like the finish on this one. I've borrowed a little trick from our lovely blog mama Louise with this card, and finished it with Sequins. She's the Queen of sequins at Southern Girls and I love the way she uses them, so this is my hat tip to Lou.

Right my lovelies, I'm off to catch some 'Arrow' with hubby, we're working through the back catalogue. Catch ya'll again really soon and do pop on over to the Southern Girls blog to check out what my talented teamies have been up to and to come and join us with your own 'Flower' inspired creations. I look forward to seeing how you interpret the challenge! Big hugs, Wends x

Challenge Entries:
Allsorts Challenge: Use Roses
Crafty Catz Challenge: #289 ~ Flowers
The ABC Challenge: 'P' Is For Pretty In Pink
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly: Take Your Pick - Technique ~ Distressed Paper Edges