To Bead or Not to Bead

For today's project, I learned that teeny, weeny beads have a mind of their own and if you don't have an immediate means to control them, it's possible (which I put to the test) that they could end up in total chaos (AKA the floor, the desk, the chair).    However, with a little Tombow glue I realized that these little devils can be coerced into doing some amazing feats.

My color inspiration was from a color challenge in Paper Pleasing Ideas, JCC02 and my design was inspired by Betty's card from this week's Featured Stamper's Challenge FS54.    I started with a Very Vanilla card base.  Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip are layered on top.  The pink took a trip through a Cuttlebug with a Swirls Embossing Folder.  The corners of both colors were cropped with a Ticket Corner Punch.  The horizontal banner is a polka dot scrap of Au Chocolat Designer Series Paper, matted on Chocolate Chip.

The flowers are from One of a Kind and were stamped in Basic Brown (it can handle watercoloring without bleeding vs. Chocolate Chip) on Watercolor Paper.  I then reached for my markers, Pretty in Pink, Pink Passion (both for the outside petals) and Rose Red (for the inside flower).  The outside petals were shaded completely in Pretty in Pink and then Pink Passion created the outline.  With an Aqua Painter, I blended the two colors together (being careful not to let the brush or paper get too wet).  The next step was to remove some of the color to get a watercolor look.  The interior flower (Rose Red) also had some of the color removed with the Aqua Painter.  For more details on watercoloring with markers, check out this tutorial from Paper Pleasing Ideas.  Julie has been my virtual mentor on learning to watercolor with Stampin' Up! markers.  Thank you, Julie and this is her color challenge, to boot.

The perfect touch was running Tombow glue in a circular pattern in the
center of the flower.  After the earlier bead "accident," I applied the minuscule
clear beads, just like I would embossing powder, carefully allowing
them to flow onto the glue then tapping off the excess into a powder
pal pan or anything that will contain these little guys and allow you
to easily siphon the excess back into the cannister.

The line of little flowers made perfect stems.  I cut and adhered one flower directly to the Very Vanilla card stock and the second propped up on Stampin' Dimensionals.  I punched the corners with a Ticket Corner Punch and attached it to layers of Rose Red and Chocolate Chip.  A snippet of Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon (beautiful, shimmery stuff) layered over Chocolate Chip adds some jazz on the side.  Pretty in Pink Brads (from the Soft Subtles assortment) have the corners covered.

The sentiment is also from One of a Kind.  I used Chocolate Chip and Rose Red Markers to color directly to the stamp and create a two colored impression on Very Vanilla paper.   It's layered on Rose Red punched with a Marvy Scalloped Rectangle Punch.  Voila!

Hugs and Pretties . . . . M

Stamp Set:  One of a Kind (111101)
Paper:  Pretty in Pink (100459), Chocolate Chip (102128), Rose Red (102544), Very Vanilla (101650), Watercolor Paper (105019), Au Chocolat Designer Series Paper (retired)
Ink:  Basic Brown (104315), Pretty in Pink Marker (100045), Rose Red Marker (100063) and Ink Pad (101778), Chocolate Chip (100908)
Cool Tools:  Ticket Corner Punch (107214), Small Powder Pal (102197), Aqua Painter (103954), Marvy Uchida Super Jumbo Scalloped Rectangle Punch, Cuttlebug and Cuttlebug Swirl Embossing Folder.  Note: The punch, Cuttlebug and embossing folder are available at Create for Less–link located on the bottom right of my blog).
Perfect Touches:  Bead Duos Clear Micro Beads (110752), Chocolate Chip 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon (109051), Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon (109067), Soft Subtles Brads (Pretty in Pink, 106954), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430), Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive (110755)