The class I teach at the local Senior Center is always a challenge for new ideas.  Not that I don’t have lots of ideas and inspiration from the many blogs I subscribe to but finding things that can be done in a classroom setting, far from my craft room, and with limited time means that I am looking for specific types of projects. And I want to be giving the ladies a learning experience not just a kit they can glue together following a set diagram.

When I come up with an idea for a technique I want to share, my next challenge is color.  Since we are fast approaching March and St. Paddy’s Day, I thought green would be appropriate for any type of card we might do.  Having just purchased a set of “Celebration” stamps with balloons and stars, again I thought I might have a winner.  (I have been obsessed with finding balloon stamps for awhile and was so happy to find them at a recent Rubber Stamp and Crafting Show in our area.)

A friend lent me her recent copy of Card Maker magazine a few days ago and it was chock full of techniques that were right up my alley.  The one I chose to do is one that uses embossing as a mask on watercolor paper and various watercolor applications over the masks.  My personal choice always defaults to my Distress Reinkers for watercolor effects.

I used Versamark on my stamps for the smaller section and then used Versamark with a brayer over the textured watercolor background paper to get a random effect. White embossing powder was then applied and heated with my heat gun.  Mowed Lawn Reinker mixed with a little water and some Perfect Pearls in various spots finished it all nicely.

The very day I was putting together my sample card and kits for the group, I saw that Really Reasonable Ribbon was having a card challenge  with “Celebrate” as their theme.  Click on the link below to see all the entries.

(RRR135)  http://reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/2016/02/rrr-challenge-135-celebrate-theme-with.html

I haven’t done a challenge is such a long time and really missed doing them.  So, with a few slight changes (yellow ribbon rather than white and Tim Holtz stars rather than silver paper punched stars), I duplicated the basic card we had done in class.  I hope my ladies will see this and be inspired to check out some challenges of their own!  And I hope folks will comment on my creation ’cause I love to hear from subscribers!

Blessings and Hugs, y’all..!