Whimsy Stamps ~ Canadian Inspired Thank You Card

Hey crafty friends, I'm sharing a card I wanted to have ready for July 1st, but I'm stuck in 'admin' mode right now and just not getting to complete my crafty adventures. But I'm not complaining, because we have some fun things coming at Whimsy and I got to create today, so that's a win! I decided to turn, what should have been my 'Canada Day' card into a Thank You card. There's no sense in letting my half done project go to waste right?! 

I started off by water colouring two red stripes down the sides of my landscape card panel. This was meant to be the beginning of my Canadian Flag design. But the project got stalled there and not completed in time for Canada Day, so I reinvented the design by adding the maple leaves randomly along the middle with a range of inks. The large solid red maples were stamped in Lumberjack Plaid Oxide Ink, the smaller solid maple leaves were stamped in Fired Brick Oxide Ink. I used a lovely Hero Arts Ombré Ink pad for the more skeleton leaf style stamps. I love the way this combination worked together on this design. 

I created two panels at the same time, one which was an ink smooshed technique, which I'll use during Halloween very likely. The second one I watercoloured the two red stripes on the card panel sides with Oxide inks in Lumbarjack Plaid and Festive Berries, initially to look like the Canadian Flag. But as Canada Day came and went I reimagined the design. 

I love this beautiful Leaf Layers set from Whimsy, the mix of solid and skeleton leaves is just SO pretty. I used a mix of oxide inks and a lovely Hero Arts Ombré ink pad for the skeleton leaves. I turned my initial design for a Canada Day card into a Thank You card and I'm not mad, I think it came out pretty great. Oxide inks for the win, with both the watercolouring and the stamping. 

I finished the design with a sentiment from one of my favourite sentiment sets from Whimsy - Beaucoup Bouquet Sentiments. This set has such lovely sentiments, I've had it a long while and do reach for it often for uplifting and encouraging sentiments. 

I coloured some natural coloured fine twine from May Arts black, with a permanent black marker, so I could balance the black of the sentiment and added a little heart charm which says 'made with love'. Not where I thought the design would go initially, but I so love how it turned out. 

Thanks for popping in to visit today friends. Do leave me a quick message so I know you've been here. I love to return the favour. I am super busy right now, so not getting to do many blog visits, but I do so love to have a good catch up when I can. I will be back again soon with another design. I'm working hard to complete it and it's close to my heart right now as I have a friend going through some tough stuff right now. So I'll be back with that card very soon. 

We've had a fun mini release back on July 1st and that's linked above if you'd like a closer look at this fun release. I'm super excited to have the International Christmas Greetings Stamp Set, because it has a Maori Greeting, which you'd never normally see outside of New Zealand. So I'm excited and delighted about this and cannot wait to get it! There's also a fun frame die perfect for Christmas crafting and the sweetest Quick Card Fronts this time, so do check them out! I'll be back again as soon as I have a little more creative time. Until then, have a beautiful week. Hugs, Wends xoxo

(If you like any of the elements I've created with, I've added thumbnails to make your shopping easier. I do use affiliate links where possible, which gives me a tiny commission but costs you no extra whatsoever, though more importantly it helps the companies I design for to improve their marketing practice and track my contributions. I am deeply grateful if you use them for these reasons. I only design for companies whose products I absolutely love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own.)

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