Sparkle & Shine Challenge #22

I'm so happy you stopped by, there's a wonderful new challenge beginning today over at Sparkle & Shine!  We also have a new sponsor for this challenge, Right at Home!  The winner will receive a $15.00 gift card to the Right at Home store and be asked to join us next month as our guest designer.  Now how is that for incentive to play along :)

Isn't that a beautiful image?  For my card today I was inspired by the grey tones, the wood, and of course that beautiful red bird!

I'm really crushing on the new stamp company Concord & 9th at the moment, and I was thrilled to have another opportunity to play with some of their wonderful stamps and dies.  First I stamped the Tree Ring Background stamp on some watercolor paper 3 times using Hickory Smoke distress ink.  Next I took a wet paintbrush and added more of the Hickory Smoke color, and also some Pumice Stone distress ink to add a subtle variation of color.  Then I splattered some of the Hickory Smoke on the background and stamped the sentiment from the By Your Side stamp set with black ink.  The birds were die cut from the By Your Side Bird Die, I simply cut the branch off of the birds.  I colored them with Festive Berries and Fired Brick distress ink and my ink blending tool, then popped them up on some foam tape.  I trimmed the watercolor panel slightly on one side and placed it on a black card base, and added a few Pretty Pink Posh clear sequins to finish the card.  I do love how this one turned out, the grey, black and white with the red pop of the birds is so pretty.

Be sure to hop on over to the Sparkle & Shine blog to check out what the other design team members created, I'm sure you'll be very inspired to play along!