That's Life: faber-castell

Hello friends and Happy Saturday!

Today, is the second day of the Simon Says Stamp Send Happiness 🌈 Blog Hop and I'm really excited to be joining so many talented designers as one of the stops on this exciting hop! You can see the fabulous new release in full by just popping over to Simon Says Stamp and if you've been hopping along, you'll have arrived here from the talented Vicky's blog but if you've just popped by and want to join us from the very beginning, just hop over on the Simon Says Stamp's Blog.

For my card, I got to chill out with the gnomes and created a little woodland magic for my gnome to escape to and this is how I created this piece, using the no line watercoloring technique to add colour to the cutest little gnome I know!

To begin with I created the inky background layer for the 12.5 x 15.5cm kraft card blank. Cut a panel of heavy stock card, 10.5 x 13.5cm and lightly mist the card with water. Spritz the damp card with Speckled Egg and Pumice Stone Distress Spray Stains. Mist again with water and allow the stains to blend but not become muddy in appearance. Once happy, heat dry the inked card and if you want to add more stain, just repeat the process ~ you can always add but you can't take it away!

On the inked card panel, I wanted to create a very subtle pattern and for this I used a flower stamp from the Luck & Hugs Stamp set, inked with Speckled Egg Oxide Ink and stamped the image randomly over the inked background to create a pattern.

After inking the edges of the completed card panel with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, I machine stitched a wonky border around the edge.

I matted the inked card panel onto a piece of burlap, followed by a further panel of mixed media heavy stock card, which is lightly inked around the edge and finally a layer of gold metallic kraft card which I've sanded very lightly to take some of the shine away. I then placed foam pads onto the back of the layers and mounted it onto my card blank.

For the next layer, I used the Filigree Message Rounded Rectangle Die to die cut some of the Heavystock card and then cut around the die to create a 8 x 9cm panel. Using the Tumbled Glass Distress Ink pad, I applied the ink pad directly to the die cut, to ink the surface of the card but I didn't go for a complete coverage, I left some of the card untouched by ink.

Working quickly, I sprinkled some Speckled Egg Distress Embossing Glaze over the top, tapped away the excess and then using a heat gun, gently heated the glaze until it melted. Ink over the top of the glazed panel with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then matt onto white card, so that it allows a pop of white to show through the die cut, followed by a panel of gold metallic card, leaving a border of gold showing around the outside.

Now to bring the chillin gnome to life and for this I used the no line watercoloring method and stamped the image of the gnome and his toadstools onto watercolour card using Antique Linen Distress Ink. I then watercolored the image with a selection of Distress Marker Pens:

Skin: Antique Linen, Spun Sugar
Beard: Pumice Stone
Hat: Peeled Paint, Candied Apple for the band
Clothes: Candied Apple, Brushed Corduroy, Antique Linen
Toadstools: Candied Apple, Frayed Burlap, Old Paper

Once I had laid down the first wash of colour on all my stamped images, I then built up some shadows and highlights before using Polychromos Pencils to add even more shading which completes the gorgeous little gnome. On the toadstools, I added small white spots using a white fine line pen.

After fussy cutting around the outline of each image, I attached the pieces with foam to my glazed die cut filigree rectangle. Underneath his feet, so that he looked more grounded, I dyed a piece of Mummy Cloth with Peeled Paint Distress Stain and once the cloth was dry, placed it beneath him attaching it with Matte Collage Medium. I then attached the finished panel to my card using foam pads and added small gold Metallic Droplets to each of the top corners of the die cut.

We're nearly there...

...and all that's left is a couple of details, starting with the Summertime label that sits in the top left corner and for this I used a label stamp from Tim Holtz's Field Notes Stamp set and stamped this onto a piece of card, using Barn Door Archival Ink. I then stamped the Summertime wording onto the label, cut the label in half and added some machine stitching before attaching it to my glazed panel and adding a Tiny Clip to clip it in place.

Finally, I used a sentiment strip from the Fresh Blooms set, cut the message "May The days ahead be filled with sunshine & love" and after inking with Antique Linen Distress Ink, I attached this across the bottom of my card, adding a couple of Hardware Heads either side to complete it.

I hope you love the card and made and enjoyed the creative process behind this card. If you haven't tried the no line watercoloring technique, then I hope this inspires you and encourages you to have a go ~ it's really not as hard as you might think but if at first you don't succeed, practice will make perfect!

HOP ORDER:

Simon Says Stamp Blog
Debby Hughes
Laura Bassen
Heather Hoffman
Sidnie Des Jardins
Vicky Papaioannou
Emma Williams (YOU ARE HERE)
Laurie Willison
Bobbi Lemanski
Caly Person
Betty Wright
Lin Brandyberry

ALL THE HOP DETAILS:

Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the blog hop! This means you can leave a comment here and on every stop along the way to increase your chances. Winners will be posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, 1st July and all winners will need to contact/email Simon Says Stamp to claim their prize. Also, last but by no means least ~ we are also running a special surprise promotion in conjunction with this hop and you can claim one free gift of your choice! The offer is valid until 29TH JUNE at 11:59 EDT, or while supplies last and there are one of four codes for you to choose from to claim your ONE gift!

Thanks so much for hopping by today, hope to see you again soon!

Emma xx

RECIPE FOR CARD:

Simon Says Stamp Send Happiness Release: Chillin Gnomes, Filigree Message Rounded Rectangle Die
Simon Says Stamp products: Luck and Hugs Stamp Set, Fresh Bloom Sentiment Strips
Tim Holtz Stamps: Field Notes