Color Throwdown #475 Big, HUGE thanks...and hugs!

I'm slowly...very slowly, getting a few thank you cards done for all of our fabulous Christmas gifts! I normally do it the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, but it didn't happen this year. At this pace, I might get done by NEXT Christmas! LOL! Anyway, I saw this week's Color Throwdown Challenge and knew I wanted to play along! I love the beautiful colors and I was in the mood to do some watercoloring!

Because I did a color wash using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors, I have quite a color gradation between them, but I really like how the background turned out. I decided to just put down a lot of color using a flat brush onto a wet piece of 140 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper from Strathmore. I just kept adding color until I got the colors that I wanted. I sprayed it with Shimmer Spray while it was still wet and set it aside to start drying.

I hadn't made up my mind what stamps I would be using for the finished card, but ultimately decided on these cute hippos from the Happy Hippos stamp set from My Favorite Things. I've only used them the once on THESE cards, but they are some of my favorites! I decided it was time to pull them out again. I also paired them with the Words for Friends die set which is another favorite. I stamped the hippo using Palette Noir ink and then colored her using an assortment of gray markers. I also added a little bow colored turquoise to add in a little bit more of the colors from the challenge. I also die cut the hippo once she was colored.

Once the background was dry, I ran it through my Cuttlebug using a Next Level embossing folder from American Crafts. I just love how the watercolored piece looks embossed. It is one of my favorite techniques. You can see a few other examples HERE, HERE, and another one HERE. I haven't done it in a while so it was fun to try again.

The sentiment is heat embossed using some old silver detail powder from SU! I added it to the embossed panel using foam squares. The hippo is added as though she is standing on the panel, reaching up to add the "s" to the HUGS sentiment. Each letter is stacked 4 times using liquid glue and then colored using a pool colored copic marker to match the cardstock. I also added some Nuvo Glaze. I also added a few Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh for some added interest and shine. The embossed piece is mounted onto a sheet of white cardstock and then added to an A2 card base using lots of foam squares. I had so much fun with this card! Thanks for fluttering by!