Red, White, and Moo?

Yes, I am creating this post the week of the Fourth of July and there is red, white, and blue (and moos), and although it’s not actually a patriotic project it is inspired in part by the Simon Says: Red, White, and/or Blue Monday Challenge. It happens to be my daughter’s 23rd birthday on Friday and since she works in Research and Development for dairy and beef producers and loves the cows and cute stuff I thought it’d be fun to have cute cows on her card. And the inside sentiment along with the color theme inspired the design. Here’s my card:

the inside:

I was delighted when the inspiration struck to create a pastiche (a type of artistic homage) to The Starry Night by Van Gogh. I wanted to make a night sky that was bright, but receding because I wanted the cow and barn to be “stars” (hehe – yes, I’m delighted by the pun) and since it’s a birthday card for someone who should still be pretty excited about having a birthday and loves animals. I did some research into trying to recreate the look with watercolor and found this video from Vanessa Paints (YouTube link) and this one from Sandy Allnock (YouTube link) and you can see that I definitely used ideas from them, but also kind of did my own thing and just kind of let things flow. I did create two ‘trial’ pieces before I discovered which elements I loved the most and I am delighted with the outcome.

The stamps and dies are from Newton’s Nook Moo set stamped with Tim Holtz BASICS Distress Archival Ink in Black Soot on Arches Cold Pressed 140lb watercolor paper. All of the paints are from Vanessa’s small, independent shop where she makes the colors by hand. I used Indigo, Mayan Yellow, and Salt Water for the sky and Sprout Red for the barn. Fae’s blood was used for the silver elements, Ghost for the white, and Sleepy Hollow for the black (the last two from Fall releases from The Sprout Creative.)

I did add some Glossy Accents to try and make the cows dark brown eyes stand out more.

I thought about adding some kind of frame for the card front “artwork”, but in the end, I loved how it filled the card front and how the elements were placed in the composition.

The inside was stamped with a sprinkle design and also lightly ink-blended with Distress inks in Tumbled Glass, Prize Ribbon, and Blueprint Sketch. I used a Uniball Signo Silver gel pen to outline the sentiment so it would stand out a bit more from the background.

I hope my daughter loves this card as much as I loved creating it. I think you might be seeing a whole lot more sky painting from me because I am really loving it as a theme.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Sending happy thoughts and wishes for creative time to you.

Ruth