Stampin! with Jaydee

Hi Everyone.  Happy Sunday.

It's the fabulous Nance's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and she has a great sketch for us.  

Yesterday was a day when I needed inspiration and found some across at Just Us Girls where they had an amazing photo inspiration.

I loved the mixture of colors and the ethereal nature of the inspiration painting and realized it would work really well for Nance's great sketch.  Especially when I saw those wonderful butterflies at the bottom of the painting - and you all know how obsessed I am with butterflies right now!

I started with a piece of watercolor paper, some silver embossing powder and my Avery Elle butterfly stamps.  I wanted the main focus to be the blue that is captured in the face of the painting subject and decided I would make the butterflies a similar color.  I loved the swirl and mixture of oranges and yellows with the touches of blue and green.  

Once the butterflies were stamped, heat set and an initial layer of watercolor laid down, I covered parts of the butterflies with masking fluid.  I didn't want to cover all of them as the female form has mixtures of color leading into her upper torso.    I wet the card stock and then used a mixture of yellows and oranges and turquoise colors to create my mottled watercolor background.  I couldn't replicate the swirl from the  photo inspiration, but wanted to capture some of the warmth and movement.

Once that was complete, I let the watercolors dry, added the sentiment and a few white and black pico embellisher dots to add a little bit of extra contrast.   I then removed the masking , cut the finished base into two and assembled the card.   I love the shimmer and shine from the silver butterflies and hope that it captures the feel of the  painting.

Here's my card:

I hope you will join us on our challenge this week.  We can't wait to see what you do with this sketch.  If you are looking for some inspiration, you have to look no further than our fabulous design team:

• Claire
• Joanne
• Leanne
• Laurie
• Nance 
• Sandy
• Linda
• Hannelie
• Colleen

I know the Just Us Girls team would love you to play along with their challenge, too!  

On a personal note:

Lou has just gotten back from 10 days in Asia Pacific and it's a different world here in our neck of the woods than when he left.  The temps have dropped by nearly 30 degrees and the leaves are starting to turn on the trees.   NOOOOOOO!!!!!  It's way too early and I am N O T  R E A D Y for fall..... or winter!!!  Can I get any more exclamation marks in this paragraph?  I have been enjoying sitting outside and watching the goings on in our neck of the woods.  I have really appreciate our prairie this year as it is really coming into its stride and the animals, birds and insects are also enjoying it.

Bailey was obviously pleased to see Lou come home.  The minute Lou brought in his suitcase, Bailey jumped on it and decided to make it clear that he wasn't allowed to go anywhere again!

I took a photo of some of the varieties of flowers in the prairie.  The pink and purples of summer have turned over to the yellows and whites of fall.  Little touches of red from the cardinal flowers and a little touch of blue.

I captured a shot of this little guy just hanging out waiting for his turn at the tube feeder.

I was standing underneath the canopy and watched a pair of downy woodpeckers chasing each other around the branches of a tree.  I have no idea what they were doing, but they sure were noisy.

Well, I am off to my craft room to see if I can raise some mojo and make a few cards.  I'll be back tomorrow with another card.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you that need a little lift tonight.  Especially my bestie.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

•    Cardstock:  Black Recollections 110#.  Canson hot pressed watercolor paper.  White Recollections #110
•     Stamps:  Avery Elle Butterflies.  Sentiment:  Altenew
•     Inks:  Distress Inks - Tim Holtz