Hello Ai Watercolour fans!
If you're not familiar with the Ai Armfuls, you should check them out! I am using 5904 - So Sweet Armful Set. It comes with both a bear and an elephant, with matching dies that cut slots so that their arms can hold either a heart or a cupcake.
I decided on a CAS style of card, doing some Distress Oxide ink blending with a circular mask (Spun Sugar, Scattered Straw and Mowed Lawn). The panel was cut with a 5063 - Rectangle A2 Stitched die, and mounted to the card base with 3D foam adhesive. The bear was stamped in N55, and his fir was painted in tones of #977, keeping it darker where the shadows would be. His trousers are a mix of #565/526, and a little #725 was painted in his ears and on his cheeks. He was cut out with the coordinating die in the set. I painted #725 onto some scrap watercolour paper, and used the heart die that comes in the set to cut the heart that he's holding.
To fill up a little of the white space in the upper right corner, I stamped two of the butterflies from 5200 - Butterfly Set in #N55, and painted them in with #126/725/993 to match the ink blending. The bear and butterflies were adhered with 3D foam adhesive, the sentiment is from the Armful set, and is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black, and I added a few sequins from my stash.
My second card featured 5798 - Gardening Girlfriends Set, stamped in #N55 on some Canson XL Watercolour paper. I wanted to extend the image a little, so I started out by stamping the puppy from 5016 - WC Mini Critter Set, then masked him and stamped a pot from 4869 - WC Small Container Set and the main image using my Misti platform for placement.
I painted two of the pots in shades of #947, and one with a mix of #249/565, keeping the edges darker to indicate their round shapes. Then I began building my bouquet in the pot on the left - using two blooms from 5475 - Flower Set 6 in #177/603, then the long carnation stem from the set in #126/725. The tall bloom from 4052 - WC Flower Set 1 was stamped twice with #993. To fill in the base of the pot, one of the vines from 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4 was stamped in #177 using just the tip. The flower bunch from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 was stamped in #177/565 into the aqua pot, and I used my brown Twintone marker to draw in the branches in the largest spot. *I could've used the WC Branches set for this, but masking the watering can seemed like more work than was necessary when it only took a minute to draw in the branches myself.
The puppy and her hat were painted in tones of #993/947, adding the warm brown where the shadows would be. Her top was painted with #725/636, her jeans with #565, and the trowel, shoes and watering can were done with #N55. #126/245 were painted on her gardening gloves for a bright pop of colour. The small grass from 4051 - Foliage Set 1 was stamped with #126/177, and the colour pulled out to add shading to the ground. #850 was used for her skin tone, and #565 was painted in a wash for the sky.
The sentiment is from 5817 - Potting Garden Shed Set, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black. The whole image was die cut with 5061 - Square Double Stitched Dies, and adhered with 3D foam adhesive over a dark grey mat. The background paper is from the 5892 - Easter S2 Paper pack.
