Boy this card took lots of work/thought to finish.

I started with a watercolor wash background. I used some new watercolors I bought. (I wanted lots of colors without spending a ton, so I did buy a cheap set. While they may not be the best, I think they are good enough for how I will use them.) I used about 3 different colors of yellow, but it is a very mild gradient that is really only noticeable in person.

After the color wash I wanted to add a bit of sparkle so I stippled on some Twinkling H2Os. That did not work very well, so I added water to wash it all over. I did go back and splatter some but even that didn’t really work. In the end there is a great sparkly glow to most of the background (again, noticeable in person). To add a bit of contrast I did some color spritzing with dark yellow and brown markers.

With the background finally satisfactory, I moved onto the card base. I originally was going to go with yellow but I could not find one that made me happy. Since the sentiment was stamped in brown, I tried that. I definitely like that better than the yellows, but I wonder if I should have gone with white (I do a lot of white, so I was trying to do something a bit different).

I thought I was done but after I moved on to another card and was looking for inspiration for that card, I realized that some sequins would be a perfect fit on this card (I have a hard time using embellishments that don’t serve a purpose – but these I could envision as falling leaves). I chose to use yellow sequins so that they blended in with the background and are more like little surprises when you notice them.

Now, I am satisfied with this card!

I used foam sheets as my backing to the watercolor paper. I did a bit of math and it is actually cheaper to use foam paper than it is to use layers of cardstock or foam tape/squares. And since it actually mails better (see Jennifer McGuire’s post for scientific proof), it is a win-win!

Thanks for taking a peek!