A Little Pick Me Up

I came home yesterday after a doctor's appointment too tired to do the tasks on my to-do list, but not quite tired enough to just sit around, so I decided that I must stamp something or go mad. Plus I was trying to redeem myself from the twice-is-a-charm card from yesterday's post. This one came together much more smoothly and I'm pleased with the result--it is a bright happy card, if I do say so myself! I've also been trying to finish the inside of my cards which I think adds that little extra somethin'-somethin', and I had just enough dsp scraps left over to do this:

I used the Mojo Monday sketch challenge for this week, and combined it with the Colour Q color challenge, which was Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal and Green Galore, plus a neutral. I had intended to use another stamp set when I was getting out my supplies, but Loads of Love caught my eye and I decided it would work better with the sketch anyway. Plus, I was keen to try a bit of water-coloring. I've had Staz-On ink forever, but have been afraid to open it up, so I figured I might as well bite the bullet. It worked great! I was worried about the clean up (I have the cleaner, but it smells SO BAD that I didn't want to use it if I didn't have to). Turns out if you clean the stamp right away with our Stampin' Mist on the scrub, it works just as well! I started out using ink pads and an aquapainter for the truck, but got frustrated with that process very quickly--it takes so stinking long to dry! I patted off the excess water and then used markers and the aquapainter instead, which I think worked better. I'm an instant gratification kind of stamper. I also used a technique that I use when I paint religious icons, which is to lay down the primary color a bit heavy and then use the aqua painter to dab it up, leaving a darker edge and paler middle, which gives nice shading. You have to have a kleenex handy to wipe your painter on between swipes or it just turns into a big mess. When I do this with icons, I'm working with egg tempera and pigments with a brush, so it's kind of the same idea, although the tempera is a little more forgiving. If you are wondering about the shading on the truck, this is what I did: apricot appeal ink from the pad direct, then patted dry, which made the truck very pale yellow. Then I markered the hubs and top of the flat bed with an Apricot appeal marker. I added regal rose marker to the body of the truck and then started blending with the aqua painter, drying my brush between every stroke. I added a tiny bit of Melon mambo to the front and rear lights, but the rest is just apricot appeal and regal rose combined. The flowers are just straight colored in and cut out with my paper snips, nothing fancy.

If you are wondering where the plain rhinestones came from, I pried them out of the smallest rhinestone brads and attached with snail--the mini glue dots are too big and got all gummy on me when I tried to squish them behind the stone. Snail worked just as well--you have to kind of rub the rhinestone directly on the snail dispenser to get it to work properly, but it's not hard, just picky.

Supplies:
Melon Mambo, Apricot Appeal, Green Galore cs, Sweet Always dsp (retired), watercolor paper
Loads of Love stamp set
Staz-On jet black ink, Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal, Green Galore, Melon mambo, Going gray markers
Aqua painter
5/16" silver brads, small rhinestone brads
paper piercer/mat pack
3/8" Melon Mambo grosgrain ribbon
mini glue dot