The Challenge #85 Bring your own Sunshine!

 

Welcome! I have some fun and exciting news to share today! I have been asked to be a part of "The Challenge" Design Team! I have been wanting to participate in more challenges lately, and this is the perfect opportunity! You can check out this week's challenge and rules HERE. I hope you will all join me weekly as I post my take on the inspiration piece, whether it be a photo, a color challenge or sketch layout! I was instantly inspired by today's inspiration photo; the rainbow and clouds were my jumping point. 

I made two separate cards because I was having so much fun experimenting with the dripping ink. LOL! Well...that, and if you must know, it was because I realized after I designed and executed my first card, that I made the clouds UNDERNEATH the umbrella, not over them! Ha Ha! I still like it, in fact, I like it better than the clouds ABOVE the umbrella! 

For this design, I stamped the sun ray image from the Hello Sunshine stamp set from PTI onto 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper using Versamark ink. I used it the other day for THIS card and I wasn't quite ready to put it away. I was so thrilled how well it worked for the challenge. After it was stamped in Versamark ink, I heat embossed it with white powder.

After the embossing was done, I used my ink blending tool and added a rainbow of inks. I spritzed the paper with my spray bottle and let the water drip. I wanted to give it the look of rain smearing down a window. It was fun to see how it turned out. After it was dry, I stamped the sentiment that is also from the Hello Sunshine set using Palette Black ink. The clouds were die cut and stamped using London Fog ink. They are from the Up, up and Away set. The umbrella was die cut and stamped as well using the Scattered Showers set. I chose the polka dot print umbrella because it looked like the darling cupcake liners in the inspiration piece.

I added some white Nuvo Drops here and there to the clouds and background. I really like how the balloons were the clouds in the inspiration photo and I thought this mimicked that look. I also added some crystal clear sequins and some gold washi tape along the outside edge for some shine. The black baker's twine finishes this design.

The second design is pretty much the same, but with a few tweaks. In order for me to keep the clouds above the umbrella but keep the sentiment, I needed to use a clear transparency as well as Black StazOn ink.

I also changed up the embossing powder in the beginning step. I wanted to experiment and see what the difference would be between crystal clear powder versus the white powder. It definitely gives it a softer look and doesn't provide the distinction between the rays and inks as well.

The ink didn't actually stay on the paper as well on this design. I went back in using my color spritzing tool to add in flecks of ink in the same place as I sponged it. I spritzed it with water after I applied the spritzed ink and let it run. It was really fun to watch.

The clouds and other elements all remain the same here. I didn't add white Nuvo drops to this design, but opted for dew drops and sequins instead. I love the additional rainy feel it adds to the design.

Join me next week for another challenge...I can't wait! I'm super excited to be a part of The Challenge! I hope you get a chance to play! Thanks for fluttering by!