Good Morning my friends, I'm sharing a card I made last Friday, a disaster of a day if ever there was one but all will be revealed later, using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Poinsettia 3D Texture Fade, intended for a DT project but it didn't float my boat and was tossed into the "lame duck/a bit of a disaster/might use someday" box. But, on looking at it the next day with fresh eyes, it gradually began to grow on me and I rather liked the chalky washed out look on the poinsettia which I hasten to add was not intentional but rather down to me being too lazy to walk around my desk and get my Distress Ink re-inkers and the fact my brain failed to register that, if you are going to attempt watercoloring with Distress Oxide inks, the more water you add, the more they are going to oxidise. So, with my adorable Professor's wise words - "don't freak your freak/embrace your imperfections/get over yourself and What If ? ringing in my ears, it was time to attempt a little resurrection and you know what, I rather like it now.
I trimmed Distress Watercolor card to be slightly smaller than an A2 card blank and spritzed back and front with water. I smooshed a Black Soot Distress ink pad over the debossed side of Tim Holtz/Sizzix Poinsettia 3D Texture Fade, spritzed lightly with water, added the card and ran through my Big Shot 3 times.
So far so good.
I coloured the Poinsettia with Spiced Marmalade and Barn Door and the leaves with Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress Distress Oxide inks using a Distress Detailer Brush, drying between the layers of colour and this was the stage where it was destined for the bin. The more colour and water I added, the chalkier it got.
But after spending so much time on the colouring, I wasn't going to give up on it and the rescue attempt began. I inked the script stamp from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Dearly Departed with Distress Embossing ink, stamped randomly on the background and heat set with Ranger Superfine White Embossing Powder.
I wasn't out of the woods yet and decided it needed a real pop of something to make those flowers come to life so I sprinkled the flower centres and the background randomly with Stampendous Frantage Aged Black Embossing Enamel which is a mix of chunky black, brown and gold granules and heat set from underneath.
To finish I added word stickers from the Idea-ology Christmas Sticker Book, outlined with a fine black liner pen.
Not my favourite card ever but not worthy of going in the bin either so all's well that ends well.
But back to the saga of my disastrous Friday. Do you ever have days when you're up and about and feel that your brain has missed the morning alarm call and when it does join the party, doesn't seem to be on your wave length at all. Old age doesn't come by itself and if truth be told, my body reminds me of that saying everyday but up to now, the old brain didn't seem to be ready to join that club, or so I thought. For some reason, on that particular Friday morning, I got it into my head it was Saturday and posted on Facebook not only wishing everyone a Happy Saturday and a great weekend but shouting from the rooftops about joining Tim and Mario that evening for the reveal of the STAMPtember release. Luckily a kind friend pointed out that I seemed to have gained a day and I quickly edited my post, crikey there's nothing worse than folks turning up for a party 24 hours too soon. Then an e-mail from Royal Mail popped into my Inbox to say they would be delivering a parcel between 7.46 and 11.46 on Saturday so although I had already been reminded it was only Friday, why was I constantly waiting for the doorbell to ring and bad mouthing our postal service when it failed to turn up. Happily, my brain and I seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet again and I'm confident it was just a temporary short circuit because if it's a sign of things to come, I need to book in for a reboot now. Will I be using the same technique to watercolor again - probably NOT but it just goes to show that what you think is a mega fail, can sometimes turn into a happy mistake so keep on believing, my friends and I'll be sharing a far easier, less traumatic version of this card next week.
Hugs Kath xxx
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