Whimsy Wednesday ~ Portree

A warm hello to all my lovely crafty pals out there in the blogosphere. It is time for another Whimsy Wednesday post from me and I feel like I have a really special one to share with you tonight. Mostly because it stirs such vivid memories for me of a really lovely trip I did with my hubby and sister-in-law years ago. I have created this card with an enchanting image by Whimsy Stamps artist Jennifer Dove. Her designs are so lifelike and detailed that on first glance I was a little daunted that I didn't have the colouring skills needed to bring this to life. But I'm so glad I tried, as I'm beyond delighted with the outcome!

I loved this image the moment I saw it. It transported me instantly back to Scotland and the beautiful Isle of Skye. Hubby and I did a road trip with his baby sister a year or so after we arrived in the UK (early 2000's) and happened upon this enchanting little fishing village called Portree. We spent a wonderful night there. I don't recall the name of the gorgeous pub we stayed in, but it was right near the water and we had an enchanting view of the shipping boats in the harbour. So the scene I saw in this gorgeous image, was like someone had taken a snapshot of my memories of that lovely harbour and drawn them. I just knew I had to try colouring this image and I'm so glad I did.

Click on the image above for the original image source and details of this lovely corner of the world through the World Atlas site. The image is of Loch Portree Harbour, with the shipping boats home to rest. It is a similar scene I hold in my memories from our time in Portree and you can see why I was so reminded of this lovely fishing village when I saw that DoveArt design. This beautiful DoveArt image is called simply Boat Harbor.

You may or may not have noticed the little '21' that I painted onto the hull of the stern on the boat in the foreground. There is indeed a reason for this. My eldest nephew has just had his 21st birthday and I decided that this image, with all the memories of travel that it invoked for me, would be a perfect 21st birthday card for my nephew. So that's the reason for the '21' on that boat. Key to the world and all that!

I coloured this gorgeous image with my Copic Markers and it was such a fun experimentation to see which marker to use for the sea and mountain range. I'm so happy with how both of those aspects turned out. I added deeper shadows in the water around the boats and love how that came together. Things most of you seasoned colourists would do naturally I'm sure, but I really worked hard on this one and I am just so pleased with the finished piece. I had wanted to use a gorgeous Whimsy Stamps sentiment set (which you see under my image above) but the text was slightly too big for the space I had in the end. A mistake with my first diecutting of the top edge meant I needed to trim the top edge down slightly. So I chose a smaller but lyrically perfect sentiment which I had sitting on my desktop. I lined up the edge of the sentiment and tried to diecut the stitched edge to match up perfectly with the image. Nailed it! Hehe.

I've used some lovely Whimsy Stamps digital papers in this design. Simple stripes in colours that toned with the mountains and sea in the picture. I just love it and it lends such a masculine feel to this creation I think. The card base is a lovely Black cardstock with a shimmer of copper in the light. An elegant finish to this otherwise very CAS card. But when you've an image as detailed and lovely as this, I feel there's very little need for much else. Hopefully my nephew will love this in celebration of his 21st birthday. 

I have to confess I've been 'in my bliss' with the last couple of Whimsy Stamps releases. There are just SO many gorgeous new releases and both the digital release which is linked above on the banner and the main release have had me totting up my spending money! We are very blessed to have images to play with as the Digital Design Divas, but I want ALL the stuff! The dies, the masks, the rubber stamps! So I can see I'll be totally broke whilst I'm designing for Whimsy, but oh so happy! I hope you're enjoying my Whimsy Wednesday showcases and I'll be back again next week with another Whimsy Wednesday Inspiration post, but in the meantime, do check out the wonderful June new releases and do head over to the Whimsy Stamps Facebook page to see all the gorgeous inspiration post that are in constant stream from the amazing DT that I'm so privileged to design with. Hugs to you all and happy crafting!

Challenge Entries:

Little Red Wagon: #451 ~ Travel

Crafty Catz: #421 ~ Anything Goes

Unicorn Challenge: #33 ~ Masculine

Crafty Gals Corner: #168 ~ Anything Goes

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Transport It

Fashionable Stamping Challenge: #136 ~ Seaside

Addicted To Stamps & More: #297 ~ Make Your Mark

Use Your Stash: #317 ~ Inspired by A Song = All The Little Lights - Passenger

Update: I won the Twinkle Lane Designs prize at Crafty Gals Corner. Thank you so much ladies, I'm delighted.

Second Update: I made the Top 3 at Fashionable Stamping Challenges. Thank you so much ladies! I'm delighted by this lovely honour.