Sweet Stampin' and Whimsy Stamps ~ A Little Bit Irish

Hey crafty friends, it's time to share a fun creation for our current Sweet Stampin' challenge and I'm using some fun Whimsy Stamps products, so I'll be sharing there too. Our challenge at Sweet Stampin' is called 'A Little Bit Irish', but you're welcome to create a design with predominantly green if you're not someone who creates for St Patrick's Day. We'd love to see those makes too. I have been trying to find a few minutes to sit and colour these adorable Leprechauns from talented Whimsy artist Crissy Armstrong. I adore her images, they're always enchanting! I finally got this creation made yesterday, (a little after the challenge went live, forgive me!) and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.

Whimsy has such a huge range of fabulous St Patrick's Day elements and well, if you know me, you know, green is my favourite colour. There's definitely a little Irish in me! (No seriously, there actually is Irish in my bloodline, hehe! ... and Scottish and English and Swedish, I'm a mix, hmm, this isn't going well, let's stop there!) The point is, I love to celebrate St Patrick's Day, we had such fun when we lived in London because pretty much in all the Irish pubs, everyone was a 'little bit Irish' on St Paddy's Day! Fun memories.

I've added a bit of sparkle to the shamrocks he's holding, as if they were picked still covered in dew. Just a tiny detail for interest. I've also added some embellishments to the card from a lovely mix from Little Things from Lucy's Cards that I've had for a long time. I thought these iridescent gems could bring the 'rainbow' to this make, however subtle. I added them to the card using the reflected symmetry concept of placing embellishments that Cathy Zielske has spoken of. I'm not a 'natural' at placing gems, so I find this really helpful and love the way it looks.

The fun background for this card, I created with some ink smooshing of green inks. I used Distress Oxide Inks in Shabby Shutters, Bundled Sage and Rustic Wilderness, then I stamped the background once dry, with the same Oxide inks and a mix of companion stamp elements from two fabulous Whimsy Stamps sets created with St Patrick's Day in mind - Lucky Leprechauns Clear Stamps and St Patrick's Day Gold Clear Stamps. I was going to add a sentiment strip to finish the card, but last minute decided to stamp one of the small sentiments in VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink, which I think finished the card perfectly. The image I have coloured with Copic Markers in a range of shades, many of them green. I'm not in the habit of writing these down, but I recall I used YG67, 63 and 61 for the Shamrocks and I used G29, 28 and 21 for his hat and trousers. For his red beard, I used E19, E08, E99, YR27 and YR24. For the gold buckle I used the last three I mentioned, E99, YR27 and YR24 plus Y35 to add a brighter highlight shine. I diecut the image panel with a really old stitched die from my stash, from way back in the day, as the company is no longer trading, but I recall they were called Lil 'Inkers and they were the very first faux stitched dies I bought. I wanted to use the gorgeous Sprinkles Scallops Rectangle Die Set to edge the design and couldn't find my Whimsy Rectangle Stitched Dies (I've misplaced them, it's driving me crazy! I use them so often!!) so I pulled out these very old dies and I must say, it worked out well. Fun to use older stash.

I hope you'll come and play along with us in this fun challenge and be sure to head over and check out the fun makes my teamies created. They're so talented! It would be fun to see your take on the challenge and if St Paddy's Day isn't something you celebrate, enter with a predominantly green creation, we'd love to see! 

If you missed my previous posts, Whimsy is having the most amazing 'LAST CHANCE' sale right now. There are oodles of fantastic stamp and die sets in this sale, paper sets too! Well worth a look if you're a Whimsy fan like me! You can click through on the banner above, the discounts are really incredible and there are some truly wonderful stamp and die sets in this sale! Let me know if you score something lovely! I've gone back three times now for a stock up! Hugs and happy crafting, Wends xoxo

(I've added thumbnails to make your shopping easier if you like any of the elements I've created with. 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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