A Cheery Cheat at no-line water-colour

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I've got some sweet cheerful birdies for you...

Using the lovely new 'All Year Cheer' set from Wplus9.

I tend to shy away from these block image kind of sets as, I'll be honest, they scare me haha.  I never seem to know what to do with them.  I also own about a gazillion stamp pads which get used for watercolouring, blending, backgrounds...pretty much everything other than actually stamping!  So I've been wanting to step out of my comfort zone and try something like this out for a while, and as soon as I set eyes on this sweet set, I knew this was the one!

I started by stamping out all the different elements I wanted to use in my scene.  I stamped everything with Distress Ink, then went over each image with a water brush to blend them together nicely and create a soft no-line watercolour effect, (such an easy way of achieving the look without the time, effort, and absolute fear that comes with the traditional technique).  I then die-cut all my pieces out using the All Year Cheer matching die set.

Because this is a build-able set, the possibilities for what kind of little birdies you can have are, pretty much, endless; Robins, Love birds, your pal's budgie!  Whatever you like.

The rest of the card was really simple.  I cut out two of the largest Small Stitched Rectangles from Lawn Fawn to create my back panel.  I kept my frame white, and watercolour washed the rest, adding a few flicks of white for added interest.  I then stamped my sentiment onto a piece of vellum, and heat embossed in a Silver Sparkle powder;  The sentiments in this set are a real bonus as, again, you can go seasonal or anytime...hence, 'All Year Cheer'!  The font used on the sentiments is also absolutely gorgeous, and it's probably worth mentioning that the set includes a load of little snowflakes if you were looking to make Christmas cards with it.  It's just so versatile.  I cut my vellum sentiment into a little banner, and adhered behind my frame, sticking everything else in place at the same time, using a mixture of wet gule and foam adhesive to add some nice dimension.

I finished by embellsihing with a scattering of pearls, and left it there.

I really hope you like it, I really enjoyed playing with this set and can't wait to get stuck into a few other projects with it!

As always, everything I used is linked below, and I'll see you next week :)

Jill