Birdhouses & Birdcages by Karen Day

Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

I pulled out a favourite set of mine for my first card, here is 5261 - WC Large Birdhouse Set:

I started by taping off a 1 1/2" stripe on my Bristol Smooth Cardstock, and I did some ink blending with Broken Glass and Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide inks.  I mostly avoided the area where I wanted the birdhouse to be - and then used my Misti to stamp it exactly where I wanted it, using N57. 

Next, I created my vine using a portion of the small vine from Foliage Set - 4051 and #177, stamping it repeatedly to make the vine wrap around the base.  I used my damp brush to soften the leaves, extending the colour to the background slightly,  then used the spiky flower from 5258 - WC Flower Set 4 to stamp my flowers using #606.  I painted the birdhouse with N57, and added #991 to the roof.  With N57, I used my stamp positioner to add the two birds from the Birdhouse Set to the sky, and painted them in with shades of #565.  Shadows were painted in the windows and on the undersides of the surfaces using #565.

I hand drew in a few blades of grass, and used the small branch from 4964 - WC Branches Set to finish off my scene.  The sentiment is from 5797 - Little Things Sentiment Set stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.

For my second card, I've used the 5367 - WC Birdcage Dies.  I've used them before, but as a mask, so the die shape was simply the 'negative' that was painted around.  But these dies are gorgeous when cut, so I wanted to use the larger one cut from metallic silver cardstock - and I really love the look.

I started by tracing the rough shape of my die onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper, so that I would have an idea of how to create my flowers & foliage.  Using my stamp positioner, I added the trailing blooms from 5474 - Flower Set 5 in #725/177 and #676/177, as well as the two fuchsia stamps in the same colours.  I added the Daisy Bunch from 4052 - Flower Set 1 in #993 with #725 around the bottom, which gave a peachy-pink shade to them.  The circlet flowers from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2, and the Foxglove from 4052 were both stamped in #565, and then I filled in around them with the tiny leaves from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set in #126.

After touching everything with a damp brush, I added a wash of #493 to the background.  I spattered a little silver metallic paint onto the edges, and wanted a little something more - so stamped and diecut two of the butterflies from 5561 - Birds and Bugs Set.  They were coloured up with coordinating Tombow colours, and adhered with their wings bent up.  I adhered my birdcage on top of my painting, used a decorative edge die to cut out my panel, and adhered it to my cardbase with 3D foam adhesive.