Humming Along

Hi Stampers!
I'm back from a wonderful weekend in Billings filled with music, family, new friends and stamping!  I realized that is pretty much most of my favorite things right there!  We are back home now and ready to roll out another week. I honestly can't believe we are at the end of January, that seems almost impossible!

I've been working my way through the 2019 Occasions Catalog and Sale-A-Bration brochure the last few weeks because it's fun to explore some of the new products and see what I can do with them. It's a personal challenge of mine to try to make 3-4 cards with a set, completely different styles or color themes and then see what I liked best.  Today I'm working with the "Humming Along" bundle which features stamps and framelits. The humingbird is very fun to color and the flower in the set is gorgeous.  Here are some ideas:

For my first attempt, I used watercolor paper and Stazon Ink. I use Stazon when I'm using any water method because the ink is permanent and won't bleed.  I used an Aqua Painter for this beauty. If you squeeze a closed ink pad together, somewhat gently, you can get some ink into the lid of the ink pad and then take the ink from the lid with the Aqua Painter. That way you avoid touching your ink pad directly with the Aqua Painter. Another method would be to squeeze a drop of reinker on your silicone mat and take them ink from there with your Aqua Painter. I tried to limit the amount of water flowing through the Aqua Painter so it didn't get to messy. A little embossing for the background, a few sequins and I was done!

This striking card features the flower in the set. This time, I colored with my Stampin' Blends alcohol markers and went for a very vivid image on a more subtle background. I cut the flower out with the framelit, after I colored it. I stamped "thank you" freehand, but if you don't trust yourself, this would be a great use for the Stamparatus, using the hinge method of moving the Stamparatus plate down one notch for each stamp of the "thank you". A few colored pearls were the perfect accent for this card.

My last card was my least favorite but I learned some stuff!  I was curious what the net-like framelit would do. It's a little tricky to release the inside from the outside of this piece, but then I decided to use both of them. Still not sure exactly what they are, but they provide some interesting texture for the background. I think my color scheme ended up being the problem. Just not sure about it. What do you think?

This was a fun set to play with and there are several more ideas percolating in my head for the next time I come back to it. Even after all the stamping I've done, I'm still honing my skills with design, color, artistic appeal, etc. I doubt I'll ever decide that I've learned it all and you definitely learn by trying different things, even if you don't love the results.

I've listed my supplies below so you have easy access to the online store and more information. I'm also available for any questions or order advice. If hummingbirds fascinate you, you might want to check out this fun bundle!

Happy Stampin'!
Sarah