Happy Thoughts

Number four of five using Altenew's Beautiful Day stamps and dies!  Another one to go to the June Inspiration Challenge.

Link to challenge HERE.

Seriously, I almost threw this in the trash after I did the background piece.  For the bottom layer I stamped the flower multiple times with Versa Mark onto watercolor paper and then heat embossed in white.    My thoughts were to use Distress Inks in Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron for the stripes with a light brown in-between.  I smooshed the inks onto my craft mat and picked up the ink with a flat wet brush to paint the stripes.

Long story short--I DID. NOT. LIKE. it.  So since I wanted to trash it, I thought I might as well try other things with it.  (After all, what harm is it if I was going to trash it anyway?!!)   Started by sponging Walnut Stain ink around the edges.  Still not good.  So I just sponged the ink all over it.  Wiped it with a dry paper towel to clean the white embossing.  Hmm, do I like it, I wondered?  I wanted the flowers to stand out more.  Somehow Jennifer McGuire's video of her doing a technique she called Distress Ink Lifting came to my mind (her blog link for this technique is HERE.  She is truly a genius!)

I used clean water and a small brush to wet certain areas of the flowers.  After the water sat on it for a few seconds, I blotted it with a dry towel, and tadaahh!  The Distress Ink lifted and left the white areas you see on the background.

I just always seem to NEED some sparkle and shine!  Wink of Stella and Pretty Pink Posh sequins satisfy that need!  :)

For the flower I used Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink and 2 Momento inks in Dandelion and Cantaloupe.  The leaves are Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn.

I do love it when I can salvage something that I didn't like into something I like a lot!  Thanks so much for taking a look!  Comments are much appreciated!