Stamping...Inking...Water Coloring and Die Cutting

Sometimes...when I am laying in bed...

card ideas come to me.

Sometimes...I grab a pencil and paper...and sketch the idea...

so that I remember it the following day.

Sometimes...I rely on memory.

Today's card was one of my middle-of -the-night-card-ideas...left to memory

and I couldn't wait to get into the studio...to give it a try!

But first...before I could work on cards..

I had a 3 month follow-up appointment at Sloan Kettering in Manhattan 

with my radiation oncologist.

(One of the 2 guys who I credit completely... with saving my life...and giving me life.)

My appointment went well...(just waiting now for some lab results)

and my doctor sent me off with a thumbs up...which is always THE BEST gift I could get.

I am SO grateful and feel SO blessed to have nice collection of "thumbs-up" photos

that we've taken and saved over time.

Here's yesterdays "thumbs-up" photo.

With that appointment under my belt..I had a clear & happy head for some card making...

So when we got home..off to my studio I went...

and there I stayed until midnight!

YAY!

(and this means that I've got a nice little stack of cards to share with you today!)

For today's cards I used the following supplies"

Stampin Up: Secret Garden (large flower)

Concord & 9th: Petals & Pallets (leaves)

Hero Arts Stamp & Cut sets: Hello, Prayers, Thanks & Happy

Zig Markers...Assorted Ink Pads

Assorted Distress Oxide Ink Pads

Water color aqua brushes

Spectrum AQUA water color card stock

LCI Metallic card stock and assorted regular matte card stock

I stamped the large flowers and water colored each one

Next, I stamped leaves around each flower.

Then..On MOST ...I created background color by blending different colors of Distress Oxide Ink.

I misted each completed piece with water to allow the Distress Ink to react.

A few have water colored backgrounds 

I chose card stock colors for matting that complemented the floral pieces.

I die cut the Thanks, Happy, Prayers and Help pieces and stamped the sentiments.

The completed floral pieces were positioned using fun foam.

In the end...I had 8 cards...

similar...but different..

This background is water colored....

I was happy with the bright pop of pink color together with the green tones of the floral piece

This one is also water colored.

I rarely create cards in this color palette...

The colors that I used for this card gives me ideas for future cards.

This version has a background created with Distress Oxide ink...

I love the misted results on the background...

This card also has an Oxide background

I am early happy with the color palette chosen for this card.

The kraft card stock and soft greens, ivory and yellow all came together nicely, I think.

Gold and orange always seem to go well together..

The gold metallic card stock is gorgeous...so shimmery...so bright...

and the orange metallic  also has a nice shimmer

Here's another kraft card stock version ..

the Oxide background reacted nicely to being spritzed with H2O

and..

another bright pop of pink....with a water colored background

and one last card...

This one...with an Oxide ink background...

and black metallic matting.

Creating these middle-of-the-night-idea cards was so much fun!

I love creating cards in multiples...

using the same supplies...but with a different twist to each...

Working with ink is always enjoyable 

(I LOVE LOVE LOVE to water color)

and creating backgrounds with ink..(Distress or otherwise)

is always a favorite of mine, as well.

It's difficult for me to choose a favorite from the 8 cards that I've shared today...

How about you?

Do you have a favorite?

As always...thanks for visiting today, my crafty and creative friends.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Michelle