Sunny Days and Fridays Always Make Me Smile

Happy Sunny Friday! (If you're now humming Rainy Days and Fridays Always Get Me Down, you're welcome.) I couldn't be happier to see the sun and know it's not actually deceiving me today and it is going to warm up to the 50s.

Here are some watercolor flowers to celebrate. Over at Virginia's View Challenge Blog, the inaugural challenge is to use watercolor. So, after seeing so many people, including Jennifer McGuire, play around with markers and ink and making watercolor cards, I tried it too!

These use the same technique of dabbing Distress Inks on a waterproof craft mat, spritzing with water and then laying the paper in the ink puddles. Let dry and then stamp on top. I used two different kinds of paper and you can tell from the ink coverage. The first is smooth, Neenah Solar White by name, and the second is just cold-pressed watercolor paper. The texture is a little rougher on the pink one.

I used Distress Inks here too (Picked Raspberry, Ocean Blue and Peacock), and I used Virginia's technique here, where she puts Distress Inks on an acrylic block and picks up the color with a water brush and then applies that to the paper (all my stamps are from Hero Arts.)

Then--because the machine was out--I sewed a bit on the stems. Fun! I used white, but it really just shows up as texture against the bright colors.

Have a Fabulous Weekend my friends!
Chark