Lack of coffee or tea was a real challenge for me

The latest Just Add Ink challenge is pick 2 from coffee, tea, and/or friend. I knew I didn't own any tea or coffee-themed stamp sets. It's just not something I can ever envisage sending a friend so therefore no need to buy. 

I would have thought somewhere in one of my stamp sets a cute animal would be holding a cup but no they like holding balloons or presents!!! Nor do I own any inkpads that have coffee or tea in their names. 

 Now I of course could have chosen not to do the challenge but that's not really challenging is it! 

A long time ago, way back in 2009 Shelli Gardner the CEO of SU! made a beautiful Shelli-card at convention and she had dyed the ribbon with tea or coffee and I had recreated her card when I got home so I was thinking about using cold coffee to watercolour but decided against it as who wants a brown card. If you are interested in seeing that card click HERE to see my old blog post.

So I decided to use cold coffee to make a watercolour background. Again I didn't want it to be brown. So I started off on watercolour paper with a fine script stencil from The Crafters' Workshop which I ink blended Saltwater Taffy distress ink through and then whilst the stencil was in place I used a palette knife to lay a very thin layer of Glitter Hero Paste over the top.

When it was dry I did 2 washes of a very strong coffee brew using a large paintbrush, drying between each wash. When totally dry I spritzed with Shimmer spray and then dabbed it up. So the background is very sparkly and shimmery in real life on top of the fine layer of glitter paste and dare I say it very coffee smelling too (hoping that fades in time).

I then used Versafine Clair Nocturne ink to stamp my flower bouquet on water colour paper. I have stamped it twice using my MISTI. I have watercoloured in my flowers using Karin Brushmarker Pro and a no.2 round paintbrush. I scribbled the marker on my media mat and then used my paint brush and water to colour in, though I have added the marker directly to some of the lines and then painted over with the colour wash. I have done a very light wash of Oatmeal using my Zig Real Color marker as it was light enough in the big gaps of the die cut.

Supply List:
Stamps: Sketchbook Bouquet and matching die (TE), Friendly Hello (SU! - retired SAB)

Ink: Saltwater Taffy distress ink (RNG), Versamark, Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper: Watercolour (SU!), Petal Pink (SU!), Natural White (SU! - retired)

Watercolor markers: Pale Orange, Soft Peach 2, Ochre, Oatmeal (the first 3 are Karin, the last one is a ZIG)
Other: Mini believe script stencil (TCW), Glitter Hero paste (HA), sheer shimmer sparkle spritz spray (Imagine Crafts), Rose Gold EP (ALT), Champagne rhinestones (SU!), dimensionals (SU!), no. 2 round paint brush (Silver Velvet), blending brush

Well I am so glad I did this challenge, the card is amazing in real life and I wish you could see the  shimmer on the background which is so pretty in real life but at the same time subtly there.

 
✿ Karen ✿