Southern Girls ~ Nature

I swear I ought to change my blog name to 'The London Bus', it's so funny, that there'll be no posts from me for ages and then 3 come at once! Hehehe. I'm here today with another DT post, this time for Southern Girls and our latest challenge. We have a lovely theme this week, which is 'Nature', how easy is that?! So many possibilities and ways to interpret that theme, so we hope you'll give it a go and come and join in the fun.

I've been collecting some lovely stash over the past few weeks from our fabulous sponsor Krafter's Cart and had a blast trying out a different colouring technique from my norm' to colour this pretty Altenew Stamp set. I've used Gansai Tambi Pearl Watercolours to colour the lovely flowers in this Altenew Beautiful Day stamp set.

I did a rather fun technique of just throwing colour on the paper in concentric circles to create the flowers, lighter in the middle working to a darker colour on the outside. Then stamped the flowers with the centre over the lightest colour. I LOVE how this came out, lazy colouring, but oh so fun and so effective!

I fussy cut all the elements to add to the card. I bought a lovely new doily die this week from my local craft store and I love the way the peaks on it work with this Go Kreate card shape. So I used that behind the blooms for a little interest. I added ink to the paper behind, really messily, I just threw it down for a bit of fun and background colour, then used my Hero Arts Neon Ombré Chartreuse to Blue inkpad to add the additional elements from the stamp set straight to the paper. I had no idea what I was doing with this card, the whole thing was one giant experiment. But I really LOVE how it came out. 

The final touch was a sentiment and I had also picked up a sentiment sheet this week from my local craft store, so I used one of those to finish the card. It's a sticker element, so I'm not super keen that on closer inspection you can see the edges, but I don't think it detracts from the finish too much. It has such a pretty metallic finish and I think the font is so perfect for this card.

Sorry the post is so pic heavy! Lots to show you tonight, so just one final pic to show off the depth from the layering of the blooms. It doesn't show well, but I rounded the blooms for a little dimension when I layered them. My final touch on the flowers (which were already very pretty from the sheen of the pearl watercolour finish) was to add Nuvo Ebony Black Crystal Drops on the flower stamen and a little diamanté in the centre of the front flower along with a scattering of sequins on the main card area. I had splattered the card with some of the pearl watercolours for a bit of interest, but the brush gave very fine splatters, so not very visible. I'll have to experiment further with different brushes to get better splatters.

We have two amazing sponsors this challenge, Krafter's Cart whose goodies I used to create this card and our second sponsor is the lovely Sasayaki Glitter. Head on over to the main challenge to check out what my clever teamies have done with their gorgeous images.

I'll be back again soon with another DT creation, but I may just be hanging out with my gorgeous wee niece and nephew who are flying in from San Diego this weekend, so jury's out as to whether there'll be much crafting next week! LOL. Hugs to you all and happy crafty days, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:
Little Red Wagon: Go Green
Lemon Shortbread: #61 ~ Anything Goes
Not Just Cards: February ~ Anything Goes
A Gem of a Challenge: #213 ~ Spring Flowers
Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends: #76 ~ Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations: February ~ Anything With Flowers
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Make Your Own Background

Sugar Pea Challenge: #40 ~ Mix It Up (I've turned the sketch on it's side ~ rotated to the left for my creation)

Update: I was featured at Little Red Wagon in their Featured Projects post. I'm so delighted! Thank you so much Little Red Wagon team.