Watercooler Wednesday Sketch Challenge

Hey there, stamping friend!  Welcome back to another challenge with the Watercooler Wednesday team!

This week, Heidi Weaver is our hostess, and she has chosen the following sketch challenge:

How cool is this?  Lots to work with, and let your creativity fly!  Which is what I did….

I decided that since I used the circle background on another challenge card, that I would sort of push that part into the background, and make the leaves the focal point.

First, I wanted to create a unique wash for the Whisper White panel, so I used my Aqua Painters and make some sweeping brushstrokes using Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze and Wink of Stella in Gold.  I did each colour separately, then went back and added more strokes, and deeper colour, where I wanted.

As I let the background dry, I stamped my leaves, using the Vintage Leaves stamp set.  This is one favourite I’ll be keeping for years to come, I think!  I wanted to replicate the turning colours of the leaves as they are outside, so I used one of my favourite techniques, the ‘baby wipe’ technique.  I placed a folded baby wipe on a paper plate, then using the ink Refills in Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight and Real Red, dropped the inks onto the baby wipe, allowing them to blend together a bit – not too much, or else it will look like mud!

I then inked up the stamps by pushing them into the baby wipe, just as you  would your ink pad, then stamped onto Whisper White cardstock.  I then used the Big Shot and coordinating Leaflets Framelits to die cut the leaves.

With the watercoloured background now dry, I attached a circle of Crushed Curry punched with the 2″ Circle Punch, then attached the leaves to the circle.  I then glued this panel to a panel of Crushed Curry cardstock, then attached it to the card base of Cajun Craze cardstock.

The sentiment, from the Sheltering Tree stamp set, was stamped in Crushed Curry ink onto Whisper White, then layered over a length of the new Burlap Ribbon.  Finally, I used 3 of the retired Candy Dots in Cajun Craze in the upper left corner of the card front.

Here’s a detail picture:

It’s hard to see the Wink of Stella, but I also added some to the tips of the leaves, and used my Bone Folder to gently curl the ends of the leaves.

Let me know what you think!  Then, please check out the cards created by the rest of the team on the Watercooler Challenges blog, and link up your own card to the challenge!  We’ve extended the times, so now you have until 5pm MT (4pm on the West Coast) next Monday to add your link!

Until next time – happy stamping!