It's Your Birthday

On Day 1 of Online Card Classes' "Watercolor for Card Makers: Exploring Mediums," they emphasized watercolor markers. Kristina Werner had a lesson on doing a halo frame with a marker & water. I took my inspiration from that for this card.

I started by cutting a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. After I determined how large an oval I needed to accommodate my image, I lightly traced around a Spellbinders "Classic Ovals LG" die. I applied masking fluid along the line, and let that dry thoroughly for several hours. Once it was dry, I scribbled a purple marker on an acrylic block. I wet the area outside the masking fluid line with clean water, then used my damp paintbrush to pick up the color from my block. I applied it where I'd wet the paper, and let the water blend the color out. I did have to sop up some excess color with a paper towel, but mostly the water did all the work for me. I then let that dry for several hours, and removed the masking.

I stamped my image, from Penny Black's "Birthday Party" set, in the middle of my oval frame, using Versafine Onyx Black ink. I also stamped a greeting from the "Big Birthday Wishes" set by Simon Says Stamp above the image, curving the stamp to follow the curve of the frame. Once the ink had dried, I colored the image with my Inktense pencils and a damp brush.

Once everything was dry, I trimmed my panel by 1/8" on all sides, and wrapped some yellow baker's twine around, taping the ends to the back. I used more twine to tie a bow, and matted the panel with black paper, leaving a 1/16" border. Finally, I mounted it to a white A2 card base. This will be another card for my sister-in-law's birthday. She & my brother just adopted 2 puppies, so I thought this image would be perfect for her!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Monday "STAMPtember Use a Stamp & Bloghop"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "No Designer Paper"
Fab 'n' Funky Challenges #274: "Cute Critters and/or Christmas"