Mixed Media Birthday

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing a birthday card that I gave to my son-in-law, Alex. His birthday isn't for a couple more weeks, but they are heading for a long weekend away in Seattle soon and wanted to give him some $$ to treat himself while he was there. :)

I made this background a long time ago and was waiting to use it for someone very special ... and that's Alex! :)  I made the background using the Saturated Watercolouring technique (click link to see my video tutorial on this).  It is basically smooshing using re-inkers so that you get more vibrant (or saturated) colours. :)

I used turquoise and orange reinkers for this and was really happy how it turned out. There's always a risk when using complementary colours (opposites on the colour wheel), as sometimes they will mix together and you end up with a brown, muddy mess.  You'll see that there are a little bits of brown in spots, but I'm happy with it.

I added more layers by stamping script over top in medium brown, and then added a stencil, randomly covered in matte heavy gel.  It's hard to see, but it adds another layer.  I popped up the watercolour panel onto some cream linen-textured paper that was a gift from my friend Christine (thanks Christine!).  To finish the card I added two die-cut cork leaves and stamped sentiment.

I'm entering this into Virginia's View #17 - All Things Embellished.

Hope you enjoyed my card and thanks for coming by for a visit.

Stamps:  Butterfly Birthday sentiment (Happy Little Stampers); En Francais (SU!)

Paper:  Cream Linen (Spicers), Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar; Re-inkers:  Tempting Turquoise, Tangerine Tango (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  water mister, Cubist stencil (Crafter's Workshop), matte heavy gel (Golden), Meadow Leaf die (Poppy Stamps), cork

Challenges:

Virginia's View #17 - All Things Embellished