10 ladies, 10 embellishments :)

Good morning!  Today I'm thrilled to share that I have made it to the top 10 in the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol competition!

It's only fitting that the challenge this round is to create a card with exactly 10 embellishments. 10 embellishments?? What's a clean and simple girl to do?  I'm lucky if even just one embellishment lands on my card.

To keep true to my style, I went small.  Enamel dots are all the rage, so after a stop at Ink About It (my LSS), I came home with these:

Yep! Just the thing I needed!  

Take a look at my card, then I'll give you the step-by-step:

This card might look a bit familiar.  A while back, I made a card with a hand-painted, watercolored Boston skyline.  I received so many "how'd you do that?" questions, so I CASEd myself and this time around took pics along the way.  Let's get started!

• Step 1: Get some inspiration

I thought to myself, "what cities have the best skylines?" - so I hopped onto Google and typed, "cities with the best skylines" lol.  First result? Shanghai!

• Step 2: Sketch

I like to paint on bristol, but of course you could use watercolor paper too.  I'd advise against regular cardstock, because it won't hold up well to the watercolor.

Finished Sketch (can you even see it? hehe)

• Step 3: Paint

I use watercolors to lay down some basic color.  I call this "the Ugly Phase."  It's my least favorite part of painting....I think to myself, "this is never going to look good!"

Ugly indeed.

• Step 4: Start sketching

I use a Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen (size XS) or a Sakura Pigma Micron Pen (size 01) to sketch.   What I LOVE about this step is that it makes the "Ugly Phase" look better, plus you can go fast and not worry about being perfect.  (One day, I'll show you my "real" paintings- the ones where I obsess over the details, hehe) 

Finished, and whimsically sketchy. Delightful!

• Step 5:  Add more

This is the part where I usually realize that I didn't add enough paint, and I'll go back and add some more.

• Step 6:  Splatter!

To add splatter, you need to get your paint reaaaaally wet. Then take your juicy brush, hold it over your project, and tap it with your other hand.  You can kind of control where it lands, but to be safe, get all other important things away from your workspace!

After assembling my card, I adhered the row of 10 enamel dots, which lead your eye from the yellow card base peeking out on the side to the sentiment.

To help keep them aligned, I placed a ruler along the bottom edge of the card and used my Xacto knife to push the dots against it.

The finished card:

Well, it's now time for you to go vote.  Please go HERE to check out the entries, then vote for your favorite! If you think you want to vote for mine, then you can find a direct link to my entry on the side bar to the right.

So glad you could drop on by! :)

CSS Say Yellow To All Your Fans Cardstock	CSS Cloudy Days Sentiments	CSS Ink- Perfect Little Black Dress	Pitt Artist Pen, Black, Set of 4
*My Mind's Eye LOVE Enamel Dots Honey The Sweetest Thing ST1055	My Mind's Eye Enamel Dots, I'm With... from Collectable-Memorable by Jen Allyson

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