Hello Friends, How are you? Before we get started I wanted to let you know that I have some time set aside this weekend to try and get to all of your works of art that you uploaded to my blog. I will feel much better when that happens. 🙂
A Starbucks run has been in my routine as of late and this card was 100% inspired by one of their gift cards. Lawn Fawn’s “Flutter By” was the absolutely perfect stamp set for my Starbucks inspired card. (see the gift card at the bottom of my post)
Today my coloring will be with distress inks and I have always liked distress inks but, today I fell in love!!  Seriously L.O.V.E. I smooched the ink pads on my craft mat, added a little water and applied the color to my watercolor paper. Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Ripe Persimmon and  Dusty Concord were such a beautiful combo. (I used a broad brush...this set is so reasonable and has a great variety of brushes.)
I was in a rush so I practically threw the color on, didn’t play with it and left it to dry.
When I came home and the paper was dry I was so impressed with how vibrant the colors were and just oh so beautiful. I tell you I am in love! This was the first time I used SSS white embossing powder and fell in love with that too lol. (Ah… in case you are wondering I used this embossing ink)
The butterflies were embossed with white embossing powder. I picked up the ink the same way as I did for the background but, with a smaller brush and I added some yellow.
I heat embossed the sentiment on some pastel vellum  and taped it to the back of the watercolor paper. I used some foam tape for dimension and I was finished. All  I need to do was cut out a few butterflies. See you tomorrow for the Mama Elephant Giveaway and I tell you…. it’s a AWESOME!!Â
CARD SUPPLIES AND LINKS: click on any of the thumbnails below:
Holiday Lights Up Hop w/$50.00 STORE CREDIT!
Day 19. Coloring Cards
Day 20. Happy Fall
wow Kathy – today you have made an awesome card. The background turned out so amazing.
Hi Kathy!
Your card looks great!!!
I’ll have to get the stamp!
Sometimes it’s hard to get creativ Material in Germany and shipping is expensive…
The mistitool and a bunch of clearstamps are on my “to-by-list”…
Gorgeous!
Gorgeous card Kathy! I love your beautiful butterflies, and YOU inspire me 🙂
Holy guacamole that’s BEAUTIFUL Kathy! Your take on the GC for inspiration is perfection.
I always love seeing how crafters translate inspiration from their daily lives into their cards and today is no exception. Your card turned out beautiful, Kathy.
I understand completely that you haven’t had time to come and take a look at everyone’s work. I haven’t even had time to colour everyday, yet here you are, colouring and crafting and posting every single day! You’re amazing!
Marianne x
Lovely card. Distress Inks are just the best for so many techniques…love the colors that you combined!
Oh that’s so beautiful! You did an amazing job creating this card from with that gift card in mind.
Wow these are GORGEOUS!!!!!
Oh my, this is so beautiful! I’ve been watching your various watercoloring techniques and your tips/tricks are so inspiring. Thank you!
LOVE it Kathy! And you have inspired me to try this! I need to get messier with my inks! 🙂
I love that inspiration can be found anywhere 🙂 This is pretty! Looking forward to seeing how you use the shoes stamps 😉
I haven’t forgotten 🙂 thanks Ruby
Wow this is so creative l just love how you did this and thank you for sharing it your card is amazing xx
Very pretty!!
the dimensional butterflies look AWESoME I love the watercoloring on them!! TFS!
O M G! That background is gorgeous! I love the way the colors blend together, and the butterflies look like stained glass. I really must carve out some time to play soon. I want to try this.
That is SO beautiful! The white embossing powder really seems vibrant. Love it!
Absolutely gorgeous! I really LOVE your card today.
Wow, just wow!! I didn’t know you could do this with Distress Ink. I’m sending this to my artsy aunt, she’ll love it!
Your butterfly card is so beautiful. It definitely inspires me to try my hand at this technique.
Your card is beautiful. I Love Distress Inks. I’ve been away for a while but I’m back and so ready to play with color. Beautiful inspiration. Thanks!
Amazing watercolour effects!!!!!!
Very pretty, love the white, it really stands out!
Thanks for sharing how you got your inspiration… It reminded me to keep my eyes open for inspiration anywhere and everywhere.
This is beyond beautiful! BRAVA!
First I can’t believe we are already at day 23. Where has this month flown? I too am in LOVE with this card Kathy. Amazingly gorgeous. I need to pull out my distress inks today and see what beauty I can create. Thanks for 23 days of inspiration.
Hugs,
Dana
WOW! What a lovely card. The colors are so awesome. I have used this technique before and love it too. I never have used a stamp and cut out the shape with the distressed inks. Another wonderful card. I love getting your emails. Thanks!
Your card just gave me the needed inspiration for some Mother’s Day cards I will work on today. The result you achieved with the distress inks+white embossing is breathtaking! Thanks so much.
Wow! So in love with this watercolor, and it’s obvious why you chose to replicate that gift card. Everything is just awesome.
Pretty simple process but looks like it took a long time. Love the white emboss powder.
Now stamp sets! That would be an awesome prize! Thank you so much Kathy for the opportunity to win some fantastic loot!
Just beautiful Kathy. Those colored are gorgeous. Very inspiring.
Love the card. Such fabulous colors.
I love this card! It’s absolutely Beautiful!!!
Simply beautiful!!! That ripe persimmon is a beautiful color, I must get me some of that. 😉
Hi Kathy, Beautiful Card, LOVE it. The first thing I thought of was your Butterfly board you did awhile ago, I had mine almost finished but we were suppose to move last year so it has been in storage for all this time, bummer cuz I could of had it done by now. Hopefully we will move this spring and I can get it back out and finished, that was such an awesome idea you had.
so pretty!
Love your card and water coloring with these inks. I don’t have own these beautifully colored distress inks except for the originals that came out like in 2004, Walnut, and antique photo. There’s just so much we can purchase and they weren’t one of them. Looks like they are on my “want” list now. Gorgeous effect!!
That is just beautiful. O my goodness! just gorgeous. Thanks for sharing
O.M.G. Kathy, I can see why you are in love with that! That is BEAUTIFUL!!! I am going to try this today myself! Beautiful with the white embossing powder. And those butterflies???? STUNNING!
I can’t stop staring at your card, it is just beautiful. The colors are luscious and make me want to do a happy dance.
I want to see that dance Bev 😉
I did do MY happy dance, but I’m sure it’s not something others would appreciate. LOL!
You really did replicate that Starbucks card. This is lovely. The softly colored butterflies and background are enchanting together.
Wow this is stunning!
Oh my gosh…that is SO PRETTY!! I love the background and can’t believe that when you add in all the butterfly die cuts they simply fly off the page! This is definitely something I want to try!
Very pretty. I really like how simple the process is. Thanks for the inspiration.
Beautiful cards and backgrounds. I just love the watercolored butterflies. Great idea which I have to try too.
Wow! You certainly WERE inspired by that gift card! I don’t think you could have matched it better!! It looks awesome! So spring! This makes me want to take a longer look at what’s out there in the stores and shops. I get a lot of inspiration from shopping, but never thought to look at a gift card for inspiration. Great card!
Beautiful Kathy! Love the butterflies and how gorgeous the background is. I hope your hubby is doing well–and doing his exercises!
Thanks Sheri! He’s being a good patient! 🙂
Going to simply case this card. That’s all there is to it. I love it so much. It is gorgeous. And the colors are spot on awesome. Great job. TFS
I love this card. I was wondering if you smooshed the ink on your craft sheet and wet your brush with water and added to dry paper or did you wet your paper and add the ink with the brush or did you wet the paper and brush and pick up the paint and carry it to the paper? Hope you understand my question. How clever to copy that gift card and you did it so well. Great idea .. great job. TFS
Good question Donna. I lightly wet the paper with the brush before adding the smooched ink. I picked up the smooshed ink with a wet brush. Did that make sense? Thanks 🙂
That answered my question. You do such lovely work and I cannot wait to see what comes next. Thanks for the answer.
LOVELOVELOVE this background! I used the distress inks and watercolored them on my mermaid card and LOVE the effect! I am going to have to do a background with them too! This is simply stunning!!
I have started buying the distress ink reinkers when they have them on Blitsy so that I can use them for watercoloring or to add them to my blank ink pads so I can make my own color palettes.
beautiful card, I am still trying to perfect my water colored backgrounds. Yours is great… Thanks for sharing. 🙂
This is just perfect! Love the white embossing!
Oh, Kathy! No wonder you are in love! Absolutely beautiful color! It gave me the shivers when I saw what you made with the distress inks. I want you to know how encouraged I feel about your color challenge. Knowing I will see you every day, makes me excited to color and prepare to see what you have made. You are such a generous inspiration to give your time and energy to encouraging others. Thank you.
Thanks Sharon your support means so much to me … THANK YOU!! 🙂
Lol you are so adorable Kathy. I too am a big fan of those distress inks I think many are.. Your card is truly beautiful and goes right with the beautiful day here in Washington. Hope the rest of the day is as enjoyable as you are:)
Awww that’s soooo sweet Roxy! Thanks 🙂
So neat…I’ve been looking at cold medicine boxes to get some coloring ideas. Beautiful card!
Wow, this is gorgeous! So colourful! Sorry I haven’t been colouring every day but I love the inspiration here. So glad I found your blog! Thank you!
This card is absolutely Stunning !!! Everyday you surprise and inspire me…. Thank you so Very Much for sharing your Beautiful talent…..
Your inspiration from the Starbucks gift card is right on!
I’m in love with Distress inks, too~ IN LOVE! I smoosh them onto my Craft Mat then smootch the Distress Ink pad with my lips~SMACK!
Lol Erin 🙂 Love that lip SMACK!
Love the bright, vibrant colors! Am loving the color challenge, even though I’m not posting anything!! Learning so much, and can’t decide what I want to play with. There isn’t enough time in the day!!
Gorgeous colors!
Golly Kathy, I cannot tell you how much I have learned from you and the embossing with distress inks is one of my favorite lessons learned. I recently made a card with the Flutter By stamp set and embossed the flowers and leaves, then colored them in pinks and yellows. It’s one of my favorite cards. Thank you again. Believe in your dreams,
Yay Sherry 🙂
Wow! Love how you took inspiration from the GC..so so pretty!
Gorgeous card! I love this stamp set so much. The butterflies look like stained glass the way you painted them. I’ve been inspired by Starbuck’s gift cards, too. Don’t they have the neatest designs?
Yes they do!! If you ask they might give you one…they have given me one every time I ask ;0
Oh, those butterflies are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! I absolutely love the background. You have inspired me to try this technique. I must get that stamp set. I also love the Happy Easter card underneath. Where did you get the Easter egg stamps?
Lol Joyce you gave me a well needed chuckle…thanks!! The Happy Easter card you can find at Starbucks! I saw their gift card and wanted to make one similar. So glad you liked it. 🙂
Kathy, do you know this challenge has been like going to class and learning and seeing so many exciting things every day. Already day 23 and of course my favourite two things in the world butterflies and watercoloring. absolutely beautiful card, so have to do this. I don’t know what I am going to do when this challenge ends, I have enjoyed every minute of it.
Ohhhh Aileen thanks so very much that means the world to me. I have a sneaky feeling that I will be doing it again. Thanks for making my night 🙂
I love this card. I am very partial to butterfly anything but your interpretation is lovely. Love the white embossing and the vibrant colors!
Beautiful card! Yet another thing to try. I learn so much from you. Thanks for sharing.
Wow Kathy! That is so pretty and looks so easy! I just might have to try it! 🙂
You just never know from where inspiration is going to strike… Some of my most satisfying designs have been CASEs from commercial artwork. These butterflies are beautiful! they look like stained glass!
Wonderful card, love the colors, the butters flies and you make it sound so simple. TFS.
Oh my, this is so pretty! Love the watercolory-ness (like my new word?!) of this!! I tried a new idea today, didn’t come out to well…but it was still fun playing. Maybe I can perfect it tomorrow. Thanks for sharing all this color inspiration!
Love the dimensional butterflies! So pretty!
Fabulous! Gorgeous! WOW! What else can I say, oh yeah Beautiful card. You always amaze me. Love the stamp set-don’t have it so I’ll have to see what I do have on hand and try this out.
Kathy I can see why you love this – its absolutely gorgeous. I really love how the background came up.
Love all your work Kathy! Photo Bomb and Potted Pretties are my favorite sets for this release. Thanks for the chance
Oh my goodness! I love your work and love the photo bomb set! I love photography so that set is right up my alley!
Awesome card! I would love to win, thanks Mama Elephant for the generous prize! If I won, My favorites would be the Ella and Friends and the Potted Pretties, for sure! Thanks again!!
Gorgeous card Kathy! I LOVE the smooshing on this- I’ll definitely need to give that a try.
That card looks like it was made for that gift card! Oh yeah, it was. Just gorgeous!
Looking at this again. Just lovely. …beautiful!
This is so beautiful.
HOW PRETTY KATHY!!!!!!!!! You did a GREAT JOB using your inspiration piece! 😉
This must be one of the most beautiful and inspirational cards that I have ever seen. I don’t have distress inks so I am going to see what I can do with what I have and try this out! Our young son adores butterflies and colour, so I want to make something for him like this! Thank you so much!
Really?? Oh my thanks for saying that…wow!! Thank YOU! 🙂
This is gorgeous. Just love such colourful cards.
Marjeta
Great project today and wonderful prize pack. Thanks a bunch.
Beautiful card!
Awesome Sauce!! woo hoo!
The Photo Bomb stamp set is my favorite!
Your coloring is my favorite too!
Thank you for the opportunity!
Cheers!
This is SO pretty!!
OMG!!! This is so so pretty!!! 😀 Kathy, you rock! 😀
So gorgeous- totally one of my faves! I can’t wait to try this technique!!
What a gorgeous card!!! Love how you were inspired by a gift card!!! =)
Wow, Kathy! I LOVE how your background paper turned out. You make it all look so easy when my projects look like kindergarten art work. (ha,ha) Awesome card! Thanks for the inspiration (as always) and for the great tips/ideas. FABULOSO! Hermosa tarjeta! =)
This is a must try for sure….I too have been doing a lot of white embossing then coloring. I tend to stay clear of those colors…but they look great. Off I go….
Wow, love this! And I am a huge Starbucks fan myself. 🙂
Just want to say that …” you inspire me”! Thanks for your helpful hints throughout the series Kathy.
I love it. It’s so cute.