De-stressing with Inspired by Summer

I hope you're all having a great weekend and an amazing start to your summer.  I've been a little crazy around here, trying to get work done with my two boys at home, is always well, um...  a challenge?

I carved out some crafty time for myself last night because I was feeling particularly stressed out.  Luckily, I'd had the forethought to ink up this beautiful Inspired by Summer stamp set from My Favorite Things earlier in the day with my Brilliance Ink to watercolor paper.  I always like to stamp for a watercolor image far in advance to make sure that ink is really dried.  Because if it isn't, and you go to watercolor, hello, what a mess!

I try to get as many samples done for the new release as humanly possible each month, but we were in California for a week, and I had to stamp everything before I left....so I didn't get done as much as I usually do.  So, I'll be making my way through the remaining elements in the release.  If you've been on vacation like I was, you'll want to check out the latest release. There are some truly outstanding stamps and Die-namics included.  Kim did a re-cap of some of the designers projects, which you'll find here:

The great thing about watercoloring an image for me, is that it is uber relaxing.  It is a huge de-stresser for me.  I covered the leaves of the tree with Kiwi Kiss reinker with my waterbrush and tucked it aside to dry.  Then I layered in Always Artichoke re-inker for some shadows.  The tree trunk and limbs were done with Close to Cocoa re-inker and the ground with River Rock re-inker.  I used a very light wash of Soft Sky re-inker for the background.

Pattern papers are a jumble here. Some very old My Mind's Eye - Quite Contrary - its one of those scraps that I give a happy sigh when I trip across it in my stash.  The woodgrain is also from My Mind's Eye, but it is this year's collection Stella Rose. 

I do adore this new Solid Bracket Die-namic from MFT. It is such a nice finishing touch to any unsightly seams between paper patterns. :)

Because my cardfront was feeling pretty full already, I opted to finish off the inside.  After all, it was necessary because I'd used a Hot Fudge cardbase!  The inside is pretty neat and clean....

 

I hope you have a truly fantastic day, thanks for stopping by! I'm hoping to squeeze in a little more crafty time this weekend so I'll have a few new things to share with you this week!