Guest Designer: Jenny C.

Hi folks, Jenny from JC Cards here, and I’m thrilled to be guesting here on The Gray Muse blog.  Before I get to my card for the post, let me just gush a little as I may not get the chance again on here!  I’ve followed Ruby since she was a card designer years ago and watching The Gray Muse go from strength to strength has been wonderful.  We even got to meet at a Galaxy Watercolor class Ruby taught earlier this year!  Literally the minute that first stamp set was released it was in my cart, and I colored it up the day I got it in the mail.  So guesting is kind of a big deal for me. I hope I managed to do this stamp proud - I’m using Happiness Blooms. 

I wanted to color this up with pretty much true to real life colors, and give it a springtime feel (it’s cold, wet and yucky outside, I thought this might warm us up!). I used a few different mediums to get this look. 

I first stamped the main image from Happiness Blooms in Gina K Amalgam ink in Whisper (a very light grey) on Arches cold press watercolor cardstock.  I like this ink for no-line watercolor - it sucks up a little of the first color you wash over it, and really helps retain the detail without overpowering the color like black does.   I shaded all of the flowers and leaves using Mijello Mission Gold watercolor.

I then added some more details with colored pencils - I used Faber Castell Polychromos.  I like to add colored pencil details over my watercolor, although it is a little challenging on cold press due to the texture of the paper - I prefer to use hot press typically for color pencil additions. 

I still wanted to add some more contrast and details, particularly into the yellow flowers, so I grabbed my Stabilo  Point 88 markers (super fine point markers) and added the centre line details on all of the flowers.   I also added some additional sparkle with a Clear Wink of Stella to the purple flowers, and white gel pen to all of the centers.

Once I was happy with the overall look, I fussy cut out the image.  I popped it up with foam tape onto a white card base which I’d run through my die cutting machine using a texture plate with a linen pattern - it’s hard to see in the pictures unfortunately but it gives a little bit of subtle interest to an otherwise plain card.   

I went for  a landscape card because I couldn’t bare to chop off any of the image -this is such a versatile stamp as you can stamp it landscape or portrait or diagonal to great effect. 

This stamp set has some beautiful sentiments in it - even when I’m not stamping the flowers I will be using the sentiments on other cards.  I heat embossed this one in white onto black cardstock and popped it up onto the centre of my card.    As a finishing touch I added some clear sequins in and around the flowers, as well as some clear Nuvo drops to the berries for a little extra shine and dimension. 

Overall this card took a few hours to make but totally worth it I think-  do you?

Jenny