I Love . . .

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know how much I adore Lawn Fawn.  It's such a departure from my old style but I just can't get enough of these amazingly cute critters!  I decided to use the older Stitched Cloud Background and Stitched Hillside Backdrop coupled with the new-ish Hay There stamps and dies to enter the Lawnfawnatics Challenge #37, Use Something Old & Something New. 

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Brown, Blue, Yellow and Red Cardstock
Lawn Fawn Stitched Cloud Backdrop: Landscape #LF1423
Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Backdrop: Landscape #LF1502
Lawn Fawn Hay There Stamp Set, #LF1595
Lawn Fawn Hay There Dies #LF1596
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Zig Clean Color Markers
Watercolor Paper (whatever you have on hand, I use Strathmore Ready Cut Series 500 paper)
Water Brush (chose whichever you have, but I always use a detail, or small, one)

When I get a new stamp set, I usually already have a card in mind once I break it out of the package.  This adorable set was no different.  I knew I wanted to use the cute little word bubbles that the cow and the ewe use to speak to each other and the card sort of fell into place after that. 

I stamped all my images onto watercolor paper, colored them, and then cut them out.   Then I die cut the hills, the clouds, the cute little cottage, and the smoke coming out of the chimney.  Those little heart shaped puffs of smoke are so sweet and you can choose to leave them open, or fill them in (with the leftover cut pieces) like I did.  

Another Peek

Once everything was colored, dried, cut, and ready to assemble, the first thing I did was attach the hills die cut to the clouds and let that dry thoroughly.  I used to struggle horribly with construction of scenes and water coloring until I learned to let everything DRY - dry this before you add that.  Things go much smoother for me and, since I already have everything cut out, once something dries I can just pop on the next piece with no issues.  Once the background was done, including the house, I moved my animals around to figure the best placement.  In no time I had placed the cow and the sheep and I was done.   One of my favorite things about dies is that you can use them together, or alone, or even mix sets! The possibilities are endless!

I hope this little tutorial inspires you to try something new, no matter what it is.  We grow exponentially when we experiment and play; I sometimes worry that making cards has become so competitive that the fun has left.  But, then again, you are responsible for your own fun, so I say get to creating some FUN! Hugs, Christi

I am entering my I Love Card in the following challenges:
Lawnfawnatics - #37, Use Something Old and Something New
Stamping Sensations - M, I Spy Something Beginning with the Letter B - bovine
2 Crafty Critter Crazies - M, #18, Anything Goes w/ a Critter (or 2)
Let's Craft and Create - M, #141, Anything Goes w/ Option of Friendship
Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies - M, Sept, 2nd Entry
Sunny Day Crafting - M, Animals
Allsorts Challenge - #485,  Create a Scene 
Crafty Animals - #18, Always Anything Goes w/ an Animal
Brown Sugar - M, #282, All Creatures Great and Small
Cute Card Thursday - #547, Dies and/or Punches, 2nd Entry
Double Trouble {ref by Brown Sugar} - #10, 3 Colors and a Stamped Image, plus optional critter and punny sayings