Free to Fly – Beautiful Bee!

Hi there my creative and crafty friends! Spring has sprung and we sprang forward, and here it is Monday again! We had a giant rain storm on Saturday and I spent all day in the studio. I LOVE the rain!! Makes everything so fresh and pretty. Do you know that we went the entire month of February with ZERO rain here in Sacramento? That is very odd. I was happy to see that water comin' from the sky!! I am participating in the Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge so my creativity is flowing! Are you joining in?? You can participate on Facebook, or Instagram or any other sharing site. Basically Kathy Rac is challenging us to color every day for 30 days! I'm in! I also challenge myself during this time. I have a basket in my craft room with new to me stamps that haven't been inked yet. So I try to use things from that basket. Also, I try to push myself creatively to go outside my comfort zone and try new things. Today's card was born from these ideas: a new stamp and a new way of coloring with my Polychromos…. I'm super happy with the results and ready to share!!

This finished card is a 5.25 inch square made from cream cardstock. The patterned paper completely covers the front of the card. I also used cream cardstock for the top layer and the wings. Makes it a bit softer than bright white cardstock, and I wanted this card to have a vintage feel to it. This bee stamp is GORGEOUS!!!! (Supplies listed at the bottom of my post)

 

Here's a close up of the wings… This was the new technique I tried! Wings! I am usually 'afraid' to blend all these different colors together…but I did it! Yay. And I got the result I wanted – the look of translucence and shimmer!! I blended blues, purples and even green onto the wings. Then I coated them with Glimmer Gel. OOH LA LA.

 

The bee was stamped onto a cream cardstock square. I used my MISTI for a crisp impression since this is a big mama stamp. I used the accompanying stamps to stamp some honeycombs in pretty yellow ink around the bee. The wings are separate stamps. I stamped the wings onto cream cardstock and cut them out with small scissors.

 

I generously inked around the edges of the paper with distress inks and a big sponge dauber. I also splattered vintage photo distress ink onto the panel… I added clear yellow Nuvo drops to look like honey. Everything was colored with my favorite Polychromos Pencils.The sentiment is a word sticker from the Tim Holtz Collections.

 

Here are the wings on my work desk….

 

And here is the bee = before any inking and distressing. I looooooove how the contrast emerges once you start inking around the edges.

 

Getting closer….

 

AHHHHH. That's the buzz!!! I added yellow Stickles to the bee body, and also some white highlights.

 

To put the wings on the card, I used a small knife to cut slits in the paper. Then I put the wings into the slits, and attached them with foam circles to pop up off the paper. I added a small black layer of cardstock around that top layer to make it stand out from the background paper.

 

Here's a top down view….Love those Nuvo drops! SO yummy.

 

While I was taking pictures…I decided to go out in the front yard and get some camellias off our tree! They are in full bloom right now! I set up a little vignette to stage the flowers…and had fun taking pictures. Doing my photography a little different is another way I challenge myself during the coloring challenge. Try to step up my game instead of doing the same thing each time. My friend who owns an antique store gave me these old books on Valentine's Day and I am going to love taking pictures with them!! They're the perfect small size. 

That's it for today! Thanks for buzzing by my hive today! Hope you have a great week, everyone. See you soon! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used for today's card. (Affiliate Links Used). CLICK HERE to see more stamps from Pink Ink Designs – they are SO cool. I need more! (I really want the Old Salt one next!)