Choose Happiness- A CAS Watercolor Technique Card

Hi Friends!

Spring as finally arrived so it seems appropriate for florals, butterflies and watercolor (after all, April showers bring May flowers, right?) :-)  

Lately, I have been showcasing one of my favorite retiring Stampin' Up! sets, Choose Happiness.  I love the flowers, delicate stem of leaves as well as the sentiments and bird in this stamp set and think that they pair perfectly with Papillon Potpourri. 

So sad to see the Choose Happiness set retire- it will be one that definitely stays in my collection :-)

 I decided to use the gorgeous PPA297 Color Challenge at Pals Paper Arts along with the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #64 “CAS Spring” Challenge and the Splitcoaststampers’CAS371 “April Showers”.

Again, if you have not had a chance to visit the above challenge sites, I highly encourage you to do so- tremendous artwork from the Design Teams as well as the galleries!!

"CAS" is short for Clean and Simple and it means different things to different artists.  To me, this card is CAS since it does not have many layers, uses basic techniques and is fairly simple to make :-) 

 To create this card:

De-static a piece of Whisper White cardstock with the Embossing Buddy®, ink ands stamp the flower image three times and the butterfly twice using Versamark™ Ink, apply Stampin’ Emboss® Black Embossing Powder and heat set with the Heat Tool.

Once the embossing powder has cooled, color the images with an AquaPainter™ and Stampin’ Classic Ink followed by the corresponding Stampin’ Write Marker (for additional shadows) – Daffodil Delight for the butterflies and Wisteria Wonder for the flowers.

Use the Elegant Butterfly Punch to punch out the butterflies and fussy cut the flowers- set the images aside.

The Smakin’ Acetate technique was used for the background: Cut open a clear envelope along one side and the top (so that it opens like a book), pat the Pool Party Classic Ink pad onto one side of the envelope, spritz the ink with water, close the envelope and smoosh the ink around a bit with the acetate, open the envelope, insert a piece of Whisper White cardstock into the ink and lift the paper.  Re-insert the paper back into the ink until you have the desired effect (*** TIP *** - clean off the envelope and save for a future use :-)).

Trim the background panel, decide where you would like the flowers to be, de-static the entire panel with the Embossing Buddy®, ink and stamp the branch image three times onto the panel (near where the flowers will be located) using Versamark™ Ink, apply Stampin’ Emboss® Black Embossing Powder and heat set with the Heat Tool.

Repeat the above steps to heat emboss the verse from Our Daily Bread Designs Scripture Collection 9.

Once the embossing powder has cooled, color the leaves first with the Wisteria Wonder Stampin’ Write marker, spritz with water, lightly dry with the Heat Tool and then color with the Pool Party Stampin’ Write Marker.

Add a bit of distressing with the Timeless Textures Splatter stamp using Wisteria Wonder Classic Ink, mount the panel onto a piece of Pool Party cardstock, trim and adhere onto the Wisteria Wonder card base.

Add the flowers and butterflies to the card front (I like to use my Hot Glue Gun for this step) and add the Pearls to the butterfly centers to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets:  Choose Happiness, Papillon Potpourri, Timeless Textures (all Stampin’ Up!), Scripture Collection 9 (Our Daily Bread Designs)

Ink: Versamark™, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder; Stampin’ Write Markers- Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder

Paper/Cardstock: Whisper White, Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder

Accessories:  Embossing Buddy®, Stampin’ Emboss® Black Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Elegant Butterfly Punch, AquaPainter™, Clear Envelope, Water Spritzer Bottle

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by and visit- hugs to all of you and I hope you have a fabulous week, my friends!