Here Comes the Sun

Good morning folks!! The challenge over at Sundays With Crissy this month is Here Comes The Sun. This is open to your interpretation! You could use sunny colours, summertime images, include an actual sun on your project...so many possibilities!

I decided to pull out one of my favourite stamps that Crissy illustrated for Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps...this stunning fairy is Ophelia. (You can find all the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps by Crissy Armstrong HERE.) I've used her a couple of times before, but I absolutely adore her so I was excited to ink her up again. :) Ophelia is actually perched on a rock, but I chose to not ink that portion of the stamp so that I could have her sitting on the edge of my main image panel with her legs extending past the border. I could have used that "out-of-the-box" Spellbinders technique that so many talented bloggers use...but I was too lazy! lol So I just placed the die on the paper, traced around it with a pencil and hand cut it...definitely not the perfectly clean and crisp edge you get when using your Spellbinders properly, but it will do. :) I've been hoarding that sunflower paper from Fancy Pants (Rusted Sun) for ages and finally decided it was time to use it, especially since the sunflowers seemed to be perfect for this challenge. I had this gorgeous deep red satin ribbon that I thought would be a perfect colour match for the red in the paper...nope. My ribbon supply is actually quite limited, and I felt the card needed another horizontal element behind the image. I had recently picked up a roll of organza ribbon at the dollar store, so I covered my ribbon with a layer of that to tone down the intensity of the red...and I was hoping it would echo the shimmer I planned to put on Ophelia's wings. The little white pearls were created with a Viva Decor Pearl Pen in Ice White.



Ophelia was stamped on Neenah paper with Memento Ink and coloured with Copic markers. The sky was sponged in with Stormy Sky Distress Ink and a hand-cut cloud template. In keeping with the Here Comes The Sun challenge, I wanted to use sunny colours for Ophelia. I also wanted to experiment with some feather blending on her wings...fairy wings are so much fun to colour! It took me a few tries on a scrap piece of paper to come up with the right combination of yellows, oranges and reds to achieve the effect I wanted...she actually ended up looking a bit more like a fire fairy than a sun fairy though! lol I added some subtle shimmer to her wings with Smooch Illuminate.



Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, Y21, Y26, E31, E33, E37, E59 Dress: R22, R27, R29, R46, R59, C5, C7, YR16, Y17, R27, E08, E99 Wings: E50, YR20, YR16, Y17, Y23, R17, R27, R59

Why don't you get creating and show us your Sun/Summer themed cards!! There will be five free digi's given to one lucky challenge participant who will be chosen by Random.org at the end of the month! You may now use images from any company and still be included in the draw for the blog candy prize! Those who use one of Crissy's images, either from her rubber or digital collections will be entered twice in the draw. But please respect the rule of no more than three entries per month. Otherwise your entries could be deleted the first post is "HERE"

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Ophelia
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Fancy Pants
Ink: Memento, Distress Ink, Copics
Embellishments: Ribbon, machine stitching, Viva Decor Pearl Pen