CAS Watercolor Birthday with Bister

For the January CAS Watercolor challenge, I took on a challenge of my own...Bister.  I've watched videos, seen examples, tried and tried -- it's still an experiment each time. How much powder? How much water?  But I stuck with it. It didn't turn out to be as dramatic as I intended, but it works. And I was able to use the quirky sentiment from Penny Black for a different birthday message.  (Edit:  the sentiment is an Inkadinkado stamp, not Penny Black.  It is a Dawn Houser design.)  

A Flower for a Birthday

(I just learned that this particular card was honored on The Flower Challenge blog!)

Stamping with flowers is an appealing challenge, but for me, choosing which flower stamp to use is the real challenge.  For this month's "The Flower Challenge" occasion theme post, I picked Penny Black's "dotted petals" and an old PSX birthday greeting.  The flower was stamped in black and heat-embosssed; I colored it with SU! markers and a blending pen.  Then I added sparkle to the flower and sentiment with some Stickles Lace.