I created this card for the latest Paper Smooches Sparks Trend Watch challenge – Butterflies.

I decided to do a watercolor background. I did the coloring by hand instead of a smoosh technique – I wanted the control over the amount of each color and its placement.

When picking colors, I first chose Baja Breeze and then decided to do an homage to SU colors that are being retired: Baja, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard, and Riding Hood Red. I needed a yellow, so I threw in Daffodil even though it isn’t retiring.

My original attempt at the background involved emboss-resist. That didn’t work, but I knew I still wanted white butterflies. This time I clear embossed the butterflies on white paper and cut them out. The embossing is much more visible in real-life.

I wanted to white emboss the sentiment, so I decided I needed a large size sentiment. The ‘peace, love, & happiness’ sentiment makes this the perfect birthday card for a friend of mine (though it will be hard to send this one away!)!

I’m so very happy with how this card all came together.

Thanks for taking a peek!