Candy Hearts Blog Hop - Spring Theme

Welcome to the first ever Candy Hearts Blog Hop! Today we are sharing Spring themed projects. After reading my post, I hope you will hop to the next person on the list below. Be sure to check out ALL the great projects the Hearts have created for you today.

I am so excited to be participating in the very first Candy Hearts Blog Hop!  Our theme for this month is "Spring" - we're all ready for spring to be sprung, aren't we?

Here's how it's made:

1. Create the base of the card using Whisper White Thick Cardstock, cut to 8.5" x 5.5" and scored at 4.25" on the long side. Fold along the score line and burnish with your bone folder
2. I used regular Whisper White for the focal point, but I am very light-handed with watercolors so it worked out.  I'd recommend in hindsight using watercolor paper or the Shimmery white paper. Whichever paper you choose, stamp the image of the 4 birds on a branch from Free As A Bird using versamark ink
3. Apply Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder over your stamped image.  Heatset.
4. Next, water color the image using an Aqua Painter.  On a large acrylic block, I applied ONE drop of reinker each of Soft Suede, Pool Party, Mossy Meadow, and Petal Pink.  I also scribbled some Daffodil Delight onto the block using a Stampin' Write marker (I did this because so little Daffodil Delight is used that I knew I didn't need a whole drop of reinker).
   
5. IGently squeeze your Aqua Painter to wet the bristles, then dab it off on a paper towel before dipping the Aqua Painter into the first color of reinker - I started with Petal Pink because I wanted to freehand the birds' bellies before adding any blue to their bodies.
6. In between each color, squeeze out more water onto the bristles and paint off the color on your paper towel
7. I let the Petal Pink dry while painting in the branch (Soft Suede), leaves (Mossy Meadow) and flowers & bird beaks (Daffodil Delight)
8. Finally, I came back and painted the Pool Party for the bodies of the birds.  I gently blended into the pink bellies some, so that they didn't look perfectly round and unnatural.
9. Set the focal piece aside and let it dry completely while working on other elements of the card
10. Cut a piece of Gold Foil Paper to 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" - adhere to card base
11. Cut a piece of the floral pattern from the Bird Ballad DSP to 5 1/4" x 4" - adhere to the Gold Foil paper
12. Using the largest die from Stitched Nested Labels, cut a piece of Pool Party
13. Cut two of the leafy branches from Botanical Tags dies  in Mossy Meadow
14. Cut 4 of the small open leaf clusters from the Wild Rose dies in Pear Pizzazz
15. Cut two of the twiggy branches from the Frosted Bouquet dies in Soft Suede
16. Use a Q-Tip to put some Versamark ink on the "balls" of each twig - cover in White Stampin' Emboss Powder and heatset
17. Arrange 1 leafy branch, 2 open leaf clusters and 1 twiggy branch at the top left and bottom right of your Pool Party Stitched Nested Label, adhere to the DSP
    
18. Now that your focal point is completely dry, cut it out using the 2nd largest Stitched Nested Label
19. Using Soft Suede, stamp the sentient “a little note” from Butterfly Gala in the bottom right area of the focal Stitched Nested Label
20. Adhere the focal Stitched Nested Label to the Pool Party Stitched Nested Label
21. As a final touch, I added a small bow made of Petal Pink Metallic Edged Ribbon to the upper right side of the Stitched Nested Labels
    

Don't you just FEEL that spring is in the air when you see this card?

Thank you for hopping with the Hearts today! Be sure to hop around to all the stops. You do not want to miss any of the creativity in this talented group of stampers!

1. Candy Ford of Stamp Candy
2. Joanne Brown of Stamping With JoJo (you are here)
3. Linda Krueger of The Stamp Coach

Today’s featured colors:

Petal Pink

Pool Party

Soft Suede

Old Olive

Daffodil Delight

If you purchase $150 or more, take advantage of the Hostess Rewards for yourself!  If you purchase less, please use this Hostess Code: RDFBQXNE. I will pick a random customer at the end of the month from all orders that use this code to receive the Hostess Rewards - it could be you!!

Here are the products that were used for today’s project: