new product adventures

OK, I know you've seen these products before, including here (assuming you've been here before) but my Stampin' Blends and Brusho Colour Crystals are still new enough to me that I feel I need a lot more practice.  I loved this card of Amy O'Neill's, but couldn't bring myself to make any more blue cards; for some reason, half of the cards I've made and added to my display stand recently have been mainly blue!  I changed the colors and also changed the layout a bit, using the new one from Sketch Saturday:

stamp sets - Flying Home, Yay You (hostess); ink - Memento Tuxedo Black; Soft Suede; Stampin' Blends; card stock - Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede; designer series paper - Wood Textures; Big Shot with Stitched Circles and Layering Circles framelits  

Looking at it now in the photograph, it seems like it just needs a little something more - maybe a spray of leaves tucked under the right side of the circles?  I'll try that...

Before I go, though, I also wanted to share this card, which I made with my favorite color of purple for Tuesday Throwdown:

stamp sets - Beautiful Day, Yay You (hostess); ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Melon Mambo; stampin' emboss powder - Clear (I think, maybe White?); Brusho Crystal Colours - Brilliant Red, Prussian Blue; card stock - Watercolor, Very Vanilla, Dapper Denim, Perfect Plum  

I'm pretty pleased with it, other than having inadvertently shortened the butterfly's body.  The Stampin' Up! set of Brushos doesn't include purple (whaaaat!?), so I mixed my own by combining blue and red crystals on a palette and mixing them together with water.  I used an Aquabrush to painting the watercolor onto the butterfly, which is stamped and embossed on watercolor paper.  I used the same two colors for the background by simply sprinkling them onto dry Very Vanilla card stock and spraying water at an angle across them.  I've found that I can use the less expensive plain card stock without an issue if I don't try to "work" the colors.  The red spread and lightened more than the blue, so to give it more definition, I stamped the flower image over it using stamped-off Melon Mambo.