Create a Smile Guest Designer Call!

I missed the guest designer call for Create a Smile Stamps the last go around but I was determined not to miss it this time! I discovered their stamps during A Blog Named Hero’s collaboration with them earlier this year and I LOVE them!

Anyway, this is my first entry into their guest designer call!

I’m gearing up for the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop so I decided to use their new Coffee First stamp set! Just a quick disclaimer…PLEASE don’t feed your hummingbirds coffee! 😉

Anyway, I was watching the hummingbirds at the feeder this morning and was thinking that they gulp the nectar like I gulp my morning coffee and voila, the inspiration for my card!

I started off by stamping the hummingbird from Jungle Fever and coffee cup and sentiment from Coffee First with Versafine onyx black ink onto watercolor paper and then heat-embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I stamped the largest flower from Botanical Love in the corner of the card and embossed it. I stamped the same flower on a piece of masking paper and fussy cut the mask. I used the mask to cover the large flower so I could stamp the smaller two flowers on either side.

Next it was coloring time! I recently purchased the Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and was eager to give them a try! I used them in several different ways…for the large flower, hummingbird, and coffee cup I colored the images directly with the markers and then blended them with a clear wink of stella glitter brush. For the smaller flowers I colored two markers on an acrylic block, spritzed the ink with water for a softer look, and painted the color onto the images with a water brush. Finally I spritzed even more water onto the leftover ink on the same block for a really light reddish pink and painted the background using the clear wink of stella glitter brush. Unfortunately it’s difficult to get a photo of the shimmer but you can see some of the sparkle in this photo:

Up close this card really shimmers when it catches the light! Anyway, thanks so much for visiting and be sure to check out the guest designer call! There are some gorgeous cards in the collection!!