The Flamingo Hugs Card
I wanted to feature this card for a few reasons. Number one being it was one of my favourite cards to make and one of the most liked from the Daily Marker 30 Day challenge. But also, unlike the majority of my cards, it had no stamping on it, instead, I worked directly colouring the dies, which also, were an unusual pick, since they are a “no name brand” I grabbed at a big crafting retailer, something that I rarely do (and I can tell you about why at another time).
I must say, this was a bit of an experiment. I started by cutting the shapes on 140 lbs watercolour paper and like I mentioned above, simply coloured the different cuts hand free. I looked at similar shapes done in different mediums to see where I needed to add shades and highlights for a more realistic look.
The watercolour palette from Altenew.
I combined two colour mediums, for most of the colouring, I used the watercolour palette from Altenew. This palette contains 36 colours covering almost all hues which complement each other very well.
For the flamingo, I started with the cotton candy shade to colour the body (being careful not to go over the beak), then I added a light layer of coral berry only on the edges of the bird to create shading. I finished by using my Tombow Dual Brush marker in 743 to accentuate the darker areas of the flamingo. I used the following colours for the beak and legs, mocha from the Altenew palette and Tombow 969 for accents.
Tombow Markers
In a similar way, I coloured the flowers. I started by adding a light layer of pink diamond from the watercolour palette making sure not to go over the edges, then I added puffy heart just around the inner border of the flowers near the centre, lastly the Tombow marker in 725 for accents. I used a single brush stroke of fresh lemon for the pistil of the flower and paper bag brown for the seeds.
The leaves were even easier, I used only two tones from the watercolour palette, bamboo and evergreen, I started with a very light layer of the first one, and continued to build up the colour until I got the desired shade, finally I added the evergreen little by little to create darker areas around the edges of each leaf.
I wanted a simple background but not white, I drew from the colours of the design to add bit of Distress Oxide ink blending, in bundle sage and picked raspberry. To finish it up, a spritz of Prima Marketing Color Bloom in pearl white spray mist for a shimmery look.
The “Hugs” sentiment is part of a die from a Pretty Pink Posh, the word hugs is inside of a scalloped edge circle, I simply used only the word for this project. The “Flamingo” sentiment is part of the Festive Flamingo stamp set from My Favorite Things.
To assemble the card, I layered a 5.5” X 4.25” white textured Bazzill cardstock on a 5.25” X 4” of patterned paper from My Favorite Things (Petite Plaid collection). Then using foam tape, I added the panel with the design to the rest of the cardstock. I used Neenah 80 lbs solar white cardstock as a card base and finally, I added a few sequins in bright pink for a touch of sparkle.
This ended up being a very colourful and cheerful card, a perfect summer greeting for a hard working teacher.
