Lily-by-Gilly

Hello and welcome. Myrna has set a watercolour challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week. I have been itching to use my Gansai Tambi starry watercolour paints since I got them at the Happy Stampers event held last autumn…

The Happy Stampers craft event is held twice a year in the picturesque village of Port Sunlight in Wirral. I went with my friend, Debs – she loves crafting as much as I do, so we had a great time and made a day of it, having lunch at the lovely Tudor Rose tea rooms close by, where they serve delicious homemade food and cakes.

We watched a fab demonstration using these watercolours in shades of gold and the lady made it look so easy! The paints are gorgeous – they shimmer and shine beautifully, I just had to have them…

This challenge gave me the opportunity to play with these fab paints.  I made myself a sample so I could see exactly how the colours would look…

I painted the colours across the tree stamp from the Snow Swirled stamp set by Stampin’ Up and stamped it onto a piece of watercolour paper.  I wasn’t sure about the result at first – it didn’t look like the one from the demo! 

I think the stamp I used was too detailed – this technique would work much better with a solid image. 

It looked almost blurry and I wasn’t happy with it, but the shimmer and shine you see when you tilt the card was lovely so I walked away to let it dry, deciding to come back to it later with fresh eyes …

Once dry, I added rhinestones in various sizes and was so much happier with how it looked …

I mounted it on layers of gold and copper mirri board and stamped a sentiment and forked-tied bow.

It’s hard to capture the shimmer in the photos but it is so pretty in real life. 

I hope you like my card for this week.  We would love for you to join us at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and show us your beautiful artwork. 

It’s great to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a message.

Thanks for dropping by today