Happy Birthday CAS Mix Up! ........

Happy Monday ........

February didn't last long did it ........ welcome to March!

I do like March ......... spring officially starts, the days get longer and the weather gets nicer. It's been lovely here for the last few days, we were even sat out in the garden yesterday!

Mothers Day is in March too, well here in the IOM/UK it is, and .......... it's my birthday this month (yeah!!!)  Not sure I'll be shouting about it next year when it's a really BIG one!!!

Not only is it my birthday this month, we're also celebrating at CAS Mix Up ....... our little Blog Challenge is 5 years old this month ..... whoo hoo!!!

Of course we're celebrating with this month's Blog Challenge.  

Our host for birthday month is Bonnie and she's got a fabulous technique for us.  

This month it's the turn of the Watercolour challenge so, the main element on your design must be some form of water colouring, and you must follow the theme which is  ............ Print Making with Die Cuts

Now this is something I haven't really done before.   If I have ever printed with die cuts, it's probably by accident!!!

What a fun technique to try though ........ the big decision was, which die cut to go for!  In the end I went for an old favourite from Penny Black (I do love this flower)

Because I knew I would be adding a lot of water onto the die cut, I cut three of the flowers from white cardstock and layered them together to give it a bit more strength.  

I then used my ZIG markers to add the colour, spritzed it with water and used the die cut to print a background onto a piece of watercolour cardstock, which I'd also spritzed with a little water. 

I love the effect.  

Because my watercolour card was damp,  I managed to get two or three prints from one colouring of the die cut ..... a bit like second and third generation stamping ...... giving a pretty softness to the background.

Once the background was done, I added a touch more colour to the die cut, spritzed with water again and left it to dry.

For the sentiment I layered together two of the die cut 'happy' just for dimension.  I added a touch of Distress Ink to the bottom edge, and then spritzed with water and let the ink move over the die cut

Once everything was dry I attached the flower onto the printed card, and added the die cut part of my sentiment over the top and stamped the rest underneath.

  

I then inked around the edge of the card with Distress Ink, and finished off by adding a few splatters onto the background ........  I do love a good splatter!

Happy Birthday CAS Mix Up!

Why not come join the party and help us celebrate!  

The challenge is open until March 24th, and if you need a little more inspiration then check out the CAS Mix Up Blog, the Design Team have been busy creating and we also have a lovely Guest Designer this month ...... Ros (Mikey's Mom) is joining in the fun so please stop by and say Hello.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.

I've got a busy week coming up and it's my birthday on Friday ...... fingers crossed we're not in lockdown by then!  I say fingers crossed because it's back ...... Covid that is!  

We've got cases where they can't trace where it's come from so, we were told to stay at home on Saturday, no mixed gatherings, travel only when necessary  ..... here we go again!  Good thing we didn't go out in the van!

Anyway, yesterday we were told carry on as normal (whatever that is!) but be vigilant!  We're not in lockdown yet and there's no restrictions but, that could all change at anytime depending on what happens this week.  At least the sun is shining!

Cheerio until next time ........

Products used:

Dies: Bashful (Flower die - Penny Black); Happy Die (Winnie & Walter)

Stamps: Fun Birthday Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers)

Inks: Distress Ink - Kitsch Flamingo (I love this new colour!!!); Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Other: ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers