Fun With Brushos

No, that's not a typo in the post title; it's not brushes! Brusho is an intensely pigmented water-based paint powder available in various colors. It's easy to use, and fun because you never know exactly how it's going to turn out. It's a surprise every time! The easiest way to use it (I think) is to heavily mist some watercolor paper, choose some colors and then sprinkle them on randomly. If you want, you can spritz extra water on to make the colors run more. This would be great for the emboss-resist technique! After it's to your liking you can let it air dry, or speed things along with a Heat Tool on the low setting.

Now for even more artsy-fartsy fun, dip your fingers in water and flick some droplets on the dried paper. Let it sit for a minute and then blot the drops off. It removes some of the color and creates a neat Bokeh effect!

As you can see, I'm still loving the Birthday Blooms stamp set. This time I used the smaller single blossom, stamped on watercolor paper and colored with a a blender pen and ink pads. Of course, I had to add a little sparkle with some Wink of Stella on the flower and its visitor. That tiny butterfly is from the free Sale-A-Bration set called Flowering Fields. Isn't it a cutie?

After the flower image was die cut, I treaced around the outside of the die to create a mat for the image. If you look closely, you can see the edges of the flower panel are edged in Gold Wink of Stella - really makes it pop!

STAMPS: Birthday Blooms, Flowering Fields (SAB) 
CARDSTOCK: Whisper White, Watercolor Paper, Have a Cuppa DSP Stack 
INK: Basic Black Archival, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Cucumber Crush 
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Lots of Labels Dies, Blender Pens, Clear Wink of Stella, Gold Wink of Stella, Stampin' Dimensionals, Daffodil Delight ribbon (ret.)

More Sneak Peeks!

STAMPS: Birthday Blooms (coming Jan.)  CARDSTOCK: Shimmery White, Blushing Bride, Mossy Meadow, Birthday Bouquet DSP (coming Jan.), Blushing Bride Glimmer (coming Jan.)  INK: Basic Black Archival, Watermelon Wonder, Mossy Meadow, Mint Macaron, Clear and Gold Wink of Stella (coming Jan.)  ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Lots of Labels Framelits Dies, Softly Falling embossing folder, Aqua Painters, Itty Bitty Accents Heart Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

I needed some cards to send to my downline, and what better way to say "Hey, I'm thinking of you!" than to use a new stamp set from the Occasions Catalog. Now they'll have a sample to show their stamping friends, as well as a sample of the new Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper!

If you know me, you know I love to color, so the Birthday Blooms set caught my eye right away. I stamped the blossom on Shimmery White cardstock using Basic Black Archival Ink. The Shimmery White is sturdy enough for watercoloring, which is the technique I wanted to use. Can you believe that's Watermelon Wonder ink? You can see how if you dilute it you get a lighter shade. Aqua Painters are great for that!

How did I choose the colors for this card? Well, Stampin' Up! made that really easy for me. All I did was pick some of the colors used in the Birthday Bouquet DSP. That was how I chose Watermelon Wonder for the flower, and Mossy Meadow for the leaves. And I never would have thought to use Mint Macaron for the little accent flowers, but after stamping a sample I saw it coordinated beautifully. I should have known....SU wouldn't steer me wrong!

Shimmery White cardstock already has a lovely subtle glimmer to it, but I wanted to add more, so I used the Clear Wink of Stella over the buds and blossom. Yes, that's coming in the new catalog, too! And I used Gold W.O.S. on the stamen. It's difficult to get a good picture of it, but I tried!

Here are some of the cards that were sent out. Each one had more DSP samples inside. (That's one of the perks of joining my team! Click here if you'd like more information.)

Stay tuned....more sneak peeks are in the works!