Today I have a set of notecards to share with you. I thought they were finished - but now that I'm seeing them on the monitor, I'm thinking I should have gone with my "gut" feeling and added either a length of ribbon with a bow in the bottom right corner, or a set of three matching pearls there. Take a peek and let me know which you think would be best. I can always add them.

Once again I used the FLOURISHES set: WATERLILIES. This image is so beautiful and it's beyond fun to color. It's extremely relaxing. I colored these on a t.v. tray in the living room watching t.v.

I started with the yellow flower. For those of you who know me well, you will be surprised at that because yellow is my least favorite color. Surprisingly though, the yellow card is the one that I like the best. Explain that one! As I usually do, I colored the image first then chose the cardstock/papers and embellishments to go with it. Once I finished the yellow card though, I came up with the idea of the notecard set and began creating the it by selecting 3 additional colors of cardstock from the SU! BOLD BRIGHTS then colored the waterlilies to match the cardstock.

When I color with COPICS, I start with the lightest color first. COPIC certified instructors have you begin with your darker shades and work dark to light but I find when I do that I get waaaaaaay to much shadow and not enough light. So I color the image with my lightest color first, leaving touches of white cardstock uncolored where the sun shine would actually reflect the greatest. Once the lightest shade is put down, THEN I add the darkest color where the sunlight wouldn't reach. Once that is in place, I add my medium shade and bump and blend it right into the darkest shade. After my three shades are in place, I either blend them all together with the lightest shade or I add additional colors - usually contrasting colors - then blend them all together with the lightest shade. For example, I used a very light shade of blue-green in some of the shadow areas on the yellow flower.

The image and the surrounding mat were cut-out using SPELLBINDERS NESTABILITIES CIRCLES. I used one from the large set and one from the small set to acheive an 1/8" mat. If you use 2 consecutive sizes from the same set the mat will be 1/4". The black background was embossed with one of my favorite CUTTLEBUG embossing folders: D'vine Swirls. It is so versatile - and I really think it looks good with water, sea, or windy themed projects.

Right now I have 4 cards for this set. I can't decided if I want to make 2 more in other colors or make 1 more of each of the original 4 and make it an 8-pc set. I also still have to make the box to keep them in. That may be a post for another day!

Thanks for stopping by and

Until Next Time -

Happy Stamping.

Jill