WATERCOLOUR SCENE FOR MY DADS BIRTHDAY

Well it's my dad's Birthday soon and he lives in Spain now, but he used to love our own coastline, especially Cornwall and i think this picture I've painted reflects our coastline. I'ts painted in  Watercolours on watercolour paper and just matted and layered onto 8 x 8 card.  Then added a Happy Birthday die cut from BRITANNIA DIES by JOANNA SHEEEN.  It's one of the simpler cards I have made. I love to paint but haven't done it in ages.  I'm definitely out of practice. Hoping my dad won't see the errors.

So here's the card.

SHIMMERING BUTTERFLIES

I love making tags.  They are obviously bigger than ATCs and so can take much more detail. I hate being restricted by the size of an ATC. With this tag, the background is just a mixture of watered down acrylic paints, then I added some COSMIC SHIMMER SPARKLE PAINT in ANGEL GOLD and just splatted dots all over the tag to add some shimmer.  I then used SHEENA DOUGLAS DISTRESS STAMPS for embossing around the edge of the tag.  I love this stamp and has become one of my most used stamps. To add some detail to the tag I wanted a delicate floral background and used a stamp that i have no idea where i got it from.  Sorry.  I then embossed the stamps using PERFECT MEDIUM and COSMIC SHIMMER in  LAVA BLACK AURORA. The butterflies are from SHEENA DOUGLAS and embossed with COSMIC SHIMMER in VIOLA BLACK AURORA.  I painted the butterflies using SHEENA DOUGLAS H2Os in various colours to match the tag. I finished the tag off with a sentiment on a die cut, added some STICKLES GLITTER GLUE  to highlight some of the flowers and butterflies then tied various scraps of ribbon to the tag.







Here's the same tag but taken in a different light and totally shimmers in a completely different way.

Also the photo shows just how dimensional it is.


I absolutely love it and shall add some distress ink to the reverse and then leave a clear space for a message for someones birthday.  Trouble is i hate giving them away, but happy to know that when i do give them away, they are usually kept by the receiver and that means the world to me.

Having someone say they are going to keep your work is just simply the biggest compliment anyone can get.

TO ADD A BOW OR NOT TO ADD A BOW THAT IS THE QUESTION.

Is a bow too girly?  This card is for my son and has been made by using a DARICE circles embossing folder on black card and repeating it trying not to have a visible line.  But this folder does not repeat match so a line was inevitable.  I then used COSMIC SHIMMER GILDING WAX and rubbed this all over the card. So to hide the line I used an EK SUCCESS BORDER PUNCH on tan paper and then on white paper. I also added die cut shapes to to add a "Happy Birthday" sentiment die cut using the BRITANNIA DIES from Joanna Sheen. I matted and layered the card, then added stickles glitter to the inside of the embossed circles, but then came the question.  Do I add a bow?  The card just looked a bit bare even with four pearl adhesive gems in the corners. I tied the bow and placed it over the tonic border and it seemed to go really well, but is it too girly to add a bow to a mans card? I haven't yet added an insert to the card just in case I decide to change my mind and make something else. I'm hoping maybe some advice from readers may help me.

Here's the card.  Would a guy find it too girly?

HAVEN'T BLOGGED FOR OVER A MONTH

Wow it's been ages since I've sat down to craft.  The weather was just too hot to sit inside.  I'm such a sun lover so when ever the sun is out I'm out. Was very tempted to buy a paddling pool to cool off. I haven't even been bothered to do much in the garden this year either because of the heat and I love gardening. Mind you, losing four trees over the winter storms has made me very sad and my garden just doesn't look the same anymore. I have replaced two of the trees but it's amazing how bare it now looks.  Anyway, i may not have been crafting much but i have been adding more crafty items to my stash.  So I have lots of new things to play with.  Another reason I haven't crafted much is because I still haven't moved from downstairs where i have no room to spread out, to my spare room which I'm trying to get set up as a craft room.  Takes money though and at the moment I'm not in a position to go spending lots on new furniture. Although I have to admit, as my son pointed out, that if I stopped the crafty spending then my craft room would be furnished much quicker. Proof positive my son is no longer a child anymore.  Infact he's 19 this month hence the reason to get back making things again.