smARTworks Tea Party #8 - Oval

It's that time again!! Time to sit down and have a little tea with my smARTwork friends at the 8th Tea Party!! This time, Peggy set the challenge. She asked us to make our cards' focal image an oval! Well, I just happen to LOVE ovals....so this was a lot of fun for me !!! I actually started the focal part of this card a while ago after seeing THE SECOND CARD in THIS POST made by Dina. She is such an amazing artist and that card just screamed out to me!! I had to try to duplicate it. When I realized that it would fit the challenge, I pulled it back out and finished the entire card. See that strip of patterned paper....it is home-made!! Can you believe it!!?? I can hardly except that I made it myself :-) LOL!!! It is made with a domino pattern repeated over and over. I can see that I am going to use it again and again...in various colors!! (Edited - I had a question about how exactly I made that strip of paper under the oval so here are a few more details. The swirly domino pattern in THE TOP RIGHT SET (DD-18 Patterns) is used repeatedly across a strip of paper. It is essential to use your stamp-a-ma-jig in order to get the edges of the stamp to line up each time. ) The butterfly is cut our and molded to have some dimension. Here is a bit of a side view so you can see it better. Well, once I started with the ovals I couldn't stop!! So I made this second card. I love doing the faux watercolor technique. I'm sure most of you have done it or know about it, but just in case there are a few out there reading this that don't know this great technique....it is so easy you have to give it a try. Simply color onto your stamps using various colors of marker! Once you have all the colors you want on it, lightly spray the rubber stamp with some water. Quickly stamp onto cardstock or watercolor paper. You can let it dry naturally or with your craft heat gun. The rest of the card is pretty obvious. Some designer paper, sponging and a bit of pretty ribbon!! So did you want to come to tea?? If so, feel free to leave a comment on any of the Design Team's blogs and we'll be sure to link you!! You have to go check out what all the other Design Team made: Susan, Dina, Trish, Peggy, and Giovana !! Oh, and look, Donna came to tea !! Supplies: Small Things card: Stamps-Small Things (sentiment), WD-60 (background), FL-18 and Standing Tall (oval background), DD-08 Patterns (strip of paper under oval), BF-04 Sm. Trio (butterfly) (All smARTworks); Paper - River Rock, Very Vanilla, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Ink - River Rock, Basic Black, Versamark, Cranberry Crisp (Stampin' Up!), Other - Oval Coluzzle, paintbrush, Stamp-a-ma-jig, sponge.

Faux Watercolor card: Stamps - FL-20 Standing Tall, DK-10 Looking Collage (smARTworks); Paper- Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!), green designer paper (K&Co.), mustard designer paper (Stampin' Up!); Ink- Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); Other - More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); oval Coluzzle, ribbon (unknown), sponge, mist spraybottle.

Thanks for coming to the Tea Party!!! Donelda