Sunday, September 2, 2018

Birches for CAS Watercolour

Hello friends.  It's time for a new challenge at CAS Watercolour.


Loll is hosting our challenge this month.
This is what she chose.

I'm not going to tell you how many times I tried to do a card for this challenge.

Actually I lost count!

I love watercolor.  I have lots of tree stamps and dies.  
But nothing seemed to work for me.

Finally something came together that I could use but wasn't
completely satisfied with.

Then I picked up this die and just started playing with it without really thinking.

It ended up being my favorite of all the forest of watercolor trees in my studio.

Go figure!

I used a gray Stampin' Up marker to outline the trees and add 
some lines on the trees, picked up some color from my palette
(left from the many other tree trials) to color the leaves and around the edge 
and found a watercolor piece in my background box that was just
big enough to cover the opening.

I've put the die cut piece on foam to give it some extra dimension.

The Design Team has a lot of fabulous inspiration for you at
CAS Watercolour and we have a fabulous Guest Designer, Ros.
I hope you'll check it out and join in the fun!


Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!



Card Recipe
Stamps:  Fun Birthday Sentiments (HLS)
Ink:   Smokey Gray (Versafine), Smokey Slate Marker (SU)
Paper:   Smokey Slate (SU), Neenah, Mixed Media (Strathmore)
Other:  Birch Tree Window Die (SSS), Slightly damp Water Brush


23 comments:

Nstiz said...

I did get a chuckle out of your description about having to try something more than once. I love how you shaded your die cut as well as your vibrant painting in the background. This is gorgeous, Bonnie!

Marcia Hill said...

Your perseverance definitely paid off Bonnie as this card is absolutely GORGEOUS!! The coloring on your Birch tree's is amazing and I love all the detail with the coloring around the frame and the leaves and that beautiful background too! And to top it off it can be a masculine card too...what a bonus!! Lovely, lovely card my friend!! :0)

Mac Mable said...

Such an elegant and unique card. What a fabulous die cut and what a fabulous card. So glad you kept going....X

JoAnn said...

Love the detail you added on the trees with the marker and then colored the leaves, it makes it pop. A lovely background for them too.

Jo said...

...A walk in the woods, yup I love the dimension for this card! Such a great idea of the contouring the bark with you black marker. Autumn is just around the corner, another beauty dear friend xx

Trina P. said...

This die has been on my list for the longest time. Love what you did with it, especially adding the details with a grey marker. Love the colours. xx

Linda W. (ScrappinBari) said...

Just love your delicate coloring, Bonnie!! Beautiful scene with the birches!!

Christine Alexander said...

Bonnie, your colouring is amazing. you have the perfect amount of depth in your shading and I love that die :)

nancy littrell said...

Beautiful watercolored background for your die cut birch trees, Bonnie. I love how you outlined your trees with a gray marker and sponged the outside of the frame. Sweet Fall colored leaves too. TFS your Fall beauty, my friend. Hugs...Your persistence paid off!

Loll said...

Gorgeous card Bonnie. Glad you kept going because this is fantastic! Love the gray, orange and blue colours together. Very striking. And great way to use this die-cut to create a fall card. xx

Papercraft Boutique said...

Great for you that you kept going, Bonnie! This tree card is so pretty!
I love the way you used your gray marker for the birch trees. Coloring around the edge gives you a feeling of looking into the woods and ties the window to the leaves. Hideko xx

Ros Crawford said...

I love what you did with that die cut Bonnie... Love those little leaves! So happy to be joining you this month!

kiwimeskreations said...

I am so glad you persevered until you created this card Bonnie - it's exquisite.
Blessings
Maxine

MaryH said...

I don't think of _you_ as struggling with cards...just hard to wrap my head around that! But this is just so lovely. The trees look very much like the wonderful silver birch trees up in New England and the aperture design really shows them off beautifully. Great design. TFS & Hugs

Linda Matthews said...

OMGosh! This is a beautiful card!!!

Julia Aston said...

I love how you colored on and around your birch tree Bonnie! The light blue looks wonderful behind it!

Brenda said...

Glad to know I'm not the only one that struggles, but you probably don't struggle as often as I do. lol I love this card and love how you did it. The birch trees look so pretty and realistic with the grey shading. I also love the beautiful water colored background as well as the water color on the leaves and around the frame. So pretty, so fall looking with perfectly blue skies and autumn leaves! Hugs, Brenda

Susan said...

What a great way to use that birch tree die! Especially the idea of putting some colour around the edge of it - it really gives that centre oval area definition! Lovely soft autumn sky behind and a few last orange autumn leaves!

Karen Dunbrook said...

so wonderfully done...great card, love the shading behind the trees .
xx Karen

Princess Judy Palmer said...

I really like this. I looked at this die recently. I wasn't sure what I would do with it though, so I moved on. I enjoy what you did with it! Edging the trees really helped make them pop.

Pat said...

This is a great idea for the tree theme Bonnie with just the pretty aperture with the birch tree trunks and that brilliant blue in the background. x

BożenA said...

DT team work is sometimes very difficult challenges. I also sometimes have a problem to do something on a dictation, on a specific topic. Yes, sometimes I also struggle with the cards for a good idea :-) And your card is so amazing! Adding a gray marker to the edge of the birch trunks gave a stunning effect. I love how they look on a blue background. Thank you for this beautiful inspiration

Bobby said...

I totally get your frustration, Bonnie, but had the other tries worked we wouldn't be seeing this beautiful card now. Love the dimension with the popped up panel.