Metallic Iris Birthday Card - Hero Arts
Hello and welcome to my blog; today I am sharing the card I created for Hero Art's Stay Crafty Challenge for the month of April. The theme this month is "They Say it's Your Birthday". I love a good challenge and anytime I can pull out my Color Layering Iris Stamp Set to create a card I am all in.

For my card I used my Color Layering Iris Stamp Set and stamped the iris image in Unicorn White Pigment Ink before using my Detailed White Embossing Powder to heat set each one. I extended the stems for the taller irises by simply masking off the stem and connecting them where the stamp ended.

Once I had all the irises stamped and embossed onto my Stonehenge Aqua Black 140 lb Coldpress Watercolor Paper; I started the painting process. For the watercoloring I used my Finetec Metallic Watercolors and my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Starry Colors set. I added some of each colors from both pallets to each of the irises.

Once I had all the irises painted with the metallic watercolors I set the panel aside for a little while to dry. This didn't take very long since I used a very little amount of water in metallic watercolors. Once they had all dried I splattered on some of the same colors that I used on the panel as well as a little Windsor & Newton White Gouache.

Once that dried I cut down the panel to 4" x 5 1/4" and attached it to my card base made from Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110 lbs. Cardstock cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" scored at 4 1/4". I then stamped the birthday sentiment from my Antique Bee Stamp Set from Hero Arts in Intense Black Ink onto a piece of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lbs Cardstock. I then used my circle dies to cut it out.

To finish off the card I added a silver twine nest behind the sentiment which I popped up on Black Dimensionals and added a few Clear Due Drops from my stash. Thanks for dropping by I hope you have a wonderful day.

Rick Adkins