Rhapsody in blue... and grey

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I am delighted to have been invited to join in the fun at Seize the Birthday as Guest Designer for the months of January and February! We're kicking off with a fabulous colour duo:

I was instantly inspired by these wintery colours and a gorgeous new-to-me stamp set, Big and Bold Get Well by Colorado Craft Co.

 

 

The set features a massive hydrangea head which I stamped off the top and bottom of a thick card base using Stampin' Up's Smoky Slate ink. The flowers were coloured using the loose watercolour technique which is basically splashing a load of diluted ink around in an arty way! It's worth mentioning that I find the Smoky Slate ink incredibly stable when I'm watercolouring; I don't use a huge amount of water but there's no blurring.

When the card was dry I left it under a pile of heavy books to flatten. When I retrieved it, I added centres to the flowers with a dark grey pencil and made a light and dark grey sentiment by mixing and matching a couple of sets.

And now it's over to you! Do hop over to the Seize The Birthday blog to check out all the amazing samples the talented team has made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool there too so that you can upload your own creation. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I was really inspired by the first CAS Mix Up challenge of the year, chosen by Jenny who invites us to use loose watercolouring on our cards; I'm also playing along at Happy Little Stampers Watercolour challenge where Anything Watercolour Goes; I'm sharing at Darnell's NBUS challenge, the place to show off your Never Before Used Schtuff, and joining in at Time Out Challenges where the theme is New - I've enjoyed using my new stamp set.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva is missing her family so I'm spending more time with her training. One new thing I'm doing is giving her a lead to carry when she's out on a walk - in a safe place obviously. She is rather inclined to greet 'her public' and most people pet her when she does this as she radiates friendliness. 

 

When she has her lead in her mouth though, she seems to believe she's on duty and walks past people - still wagging, but with the air of being far too busy to stop and say hello! When we come to the end of the safe area, I ask her to sit and she gives me the lead back. She loves this new game!

Sending hugs,