Happy Birthday ....

... Good afternoon. One of the things I am planning to do this year is play along with a few more challenges - I follow lots, but don't seem to make cards for them. So, this afternoon, I've a birthday card to share that I've made for my aunt - it's her birthday on Saturday:

Stamps: Gina K - Beautiful Butterflies 2; Altenew - Just a Number

Inks: Gina K - Innocent Pink, Dusty Rose, Peach Bellini, Blue Denim, Black Onyx; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Dies: Gina K - Master Layouts 1

Accessories: White & Black Card; Studio Katia - Silver Foil Crystals

I'm submitting this card to Gina K Monthly Mix Challenge - GKMMC#01 where they want us to use water on Gina's reactive inks - done! I'm also playing along with Sunday Stamps Challenge - SSC#273 - they have a colour palette for inspiration.

I've been watching lots of Gina's video recently and I love the way her inks blend. I didn't realise they were also water reactive. I used several inks to blend a sunrise/sunset kind of background. Once finished I splashed on some water, allowed it to react and dried with a paper towel and heat gun. This gives a wonderful mottled effect. I used the large rectangle dies from MLO1 to cut out the blended background along with a mat black layer. I then stamped a birthday greeting at the bottom of the panel and added several gorgeous butterflies in black ink. I adhered the panel to the front of a US A2 side opening card. To finish the front, I added a number of silver foil crystals. Inside the card, I cut a mat layer of black card. I kept the white panel simple with a birthday greeting and one of the butterflies stamped in colour.

After a very mild weather over the New Year weekend, it feels like winter has arrived today. It started off bright and sunny with a very cold wind, and this afternoon we had hail!! The weatherman has promised some snow over the high ground tonight - I kind of hope not. Anyway, that's all from me for now. See you tomorrow.