Hello creative friends! Today I’m sharing a card that I made after participating in Altenew Academy’s In the Mood for Color.

I was inspired by the color yellow, and by my friend and colleague whose nickname is Happy. Yellow is my happy color. It reminds me of sunshine, and warmth, and really good macaroni and cheese! Mmmmm.

I started with a piece of watercolor cardstock, 4 x 5.25 inches. I blended from the lightest shade in the Summer Afternoon mini cube set, Buttercream, to Warm Sunshine, and then to Caramel Toffee. I used blending brushes, and several layeres, to get a nice smooth transition from the lighter shade to the darker shade. At this point, it was time to make dinner, so I walked away and let this dry. You could also heat set the background. I like to make sure it’s nice and dry if I’m going to use embossing powder, so the powder doesn’t stick where I don’t want it. I also dust the dried paper with antistatic powder before stamping and embossing. I stamped the flower from the Cameilia Waterhouse set using VersaMark embossing ink, applied gold embossing powder, and heat set. I also stamped the flower image on maskin paper, and cut that out, so I could add some paint spatters to the background for interest, but keep them off of the flowers.

I decided that I wanted the flowers to stand out a little more, so I used several Altenew Watercolor Brush Markers to enhance the color of the flowers, and give the leaves a hint of green.

I chose a sentiment from the Bad Days Happen set, enbossed that with gold embossing powder as well, and added some gold thread behind the sentiment. This of course was the hardest part… trying to get the thread to lay perfectly (in my mind at least) behind the sentiment. I also added some clear water drop gems for a little extra shine.

I matted my panel with black cardstock, and then attached it to a 4.25 by 5.5 inch A2 white card base. I hope this gave you some inspiration to play with color, especially monochromatic designs, to share a thought or convey a special feeling to a loved one through the gift of a card. Thank you for stopping by my blog. I appreciate you!

Altenew products used:
Paint-A-Flower: Camelia Waterhouse Outline Stamp Set
Bad Days Happen Stamp Set
Crisp Dye Ink Set – Summer Afternoon
Watercolor Brush Marker – Warm Sunshine, Mango Smoothie, Mountain Mist
Metallic Thread – Antique Gold