Irish Spring

The Inspiration Challenge today on SCS has a gorgeous Double Irish Chain Shamrock Quilt as the inspiration piece. I think it is beautiful with the two tones of green and the lovely embellished floral centers in each square.

I had no real desire to do a card relating to the quilt in terms of recreating the pattern but was more drawn to doing a scene of what I imagine an Irish hill side would look like with sheep and lots and lots of green. I hope to visit Ireland some day as I have always been drawn to pictures and Irish stories.

I decided to use Anna Wight’s- Bo Peep’s Sheep set found on Whipper Snapper Designs. What an adorable set of images to work with. I stamped my smaller sheep images on scrap watercolor paper so I could cut them out to pop up over my scene.  I stamped the larger sheep once on the main watercolor layer and then once again on scrap to cut her out as well. I used a large round dry watercolor brush to brush Celery and Wasabi on the ground area around the main sheep image and to create the hillside. I sketched out my little fence line and trees with a Copic Multiliner and painted with Vintage Photo Distress reinker. I used SU Celery and Wasabi Dye ink to sponge on the tree leaf areas. I stamped the minis fern stamp with Wasabi to create the texture for the leaf and ground areas. I added sparkle to the whole scene with yellow glitter glue and a brush.  For some reason I wanted bright sparkle since I wasn’t added flower of different colors to this scene and stay true to the inspiration piece.

I used Liquid Applique on all three sheep images. My trick to avoiding the "dreaded blob" when using Liquid Applique is to apply a very thin layer and to pat it with my finger to remove a little and to squish it around the total space that I want to cover.  That helps remove any thick piles of the applique and then allows it to heat more evenly and to get more even coverage of your image.  I decided there had to one black sheep and so I colored the dried and puffed applique with a black marker. I painted each little face with SU Gray reinker and added a little Regal Rose reinker for pink cheeks.  I used a Krylon Gold Leafing Pen and painted a piece of scrap watercolor paper with a large enough area to cut out three little gold bells for the sheep.  I cut an additional large sheep head and even another additional sheep wool head piece and popped up over the main appliqued image. I cut additional ears for all three sheep and popped them on with tiny glue dots.  I don’t think any of this added dimension shows in the photo but it is so cute in person. I attached the cut out sheep over the scene and added dimensionals to the smaller white sheep to pop up a little in front of the black one. The main image was layered over plain white cardstock to make the white sheep pop and the main card base is made from Wasabi.  I stamped the sentiment with Wasabi and punched out with the word punch.  Green and white gingham was the perfect ribbon embellishment for this card. Well….gingham of any color is always my favorite. What a fun, fun project.  I may have to send this in to Whipper Snapper Design Spring Card Contest. Who wouldn’t want $75 for first place???

Stamps: Whipper Snapper Design-Anna Wight Bo Peep’s Sheep, Watercolor Minis

Paper:  Wasabi, White, Watercolor

Ink:  Brilliance Black Graphite, SU Celery, Yellow, Wasabi, Gray, Ranger Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Accessories:  Glitter GLue, Liquid Applique, Copic Multiliner, Gingham, *Glue Dots, *Paper Piercer,Watercolor Brushes, Word Punch,

* Glue dots and Paper Piercer-Here is a helpful hint.  I use the point of my paper piercer to attach small glue dots to small objects and to help me apply to the area it is to be attached to.  The point is just perfect for replacing big, fat fingers when working with tiny little pieces. I use the piercer to apply glue dots under ribbon borders and anything else I want to secure as well. Whoops!  I forgot to add the glue dots to the picture above.