Rain Forecasted

Here in sunny Wilmington, NC, we are having rain today, yesterday, day before that, and before that...And rain is forecasted for the next six days! So, being a gardener, I got a little time off to make a card today.  I was inspired by the designers over at A Vintage Journey to use distress stains for my background. Since they were out on my worktable, I decided to use them for all the elements on this piece. But I also had a bottle of Distress Paint, and grabbed and used that by accident!  Ooops!  Too late to start over!

I had a look at Tim's video on how to use Distress Stains and got some more inspiration.  I also did a little experimenting on my own.  I spritzed my background paper (watercolor) with water, and dragged it through a puddle of various stains, just as Tim instructs. After drying it with a heat tool, I did this again, to make a "cloud". After drying again, I drew my lightening bolt, and painted it with Picket Fence Distress Stain. Blasted it one more time with the heat tool, and painted over the Picket Fence lightening bolt with Mustard Seed Distress Stain. I spritzed with water again and added a little Mustard Seed to the sky. This is where I accidentally picked up the paint instead of the stain; can you tell? It's not as translucent, and the color is bolder.

I used Tim's Measured stencil  and Distress Ink on a blending tool to make grass blades.   I was inspired by Country View Challenges to add words to describe the never changing weather forecast. I used a stencil by TCW with Distress Ink and chose just the perfect words from this stencil.

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #3 Stencils and Paste wants us to use a thick medium or paste through  stencils on our project. I mixed up some Liquitex Flexible Modeling Paste with Stormy Sky Distress Stain (my experiment; I apologize if anyone's already discovered and published that) and smudged that through the stencil by Prima, using a palette knife.  This is my first time using this stuff, and I can tell I need to polish up my technique a little. I am very pleased with the way the stain mixed with the paste.  When that was dry, I used the same stencil with Distress Ink to give some depth.

 Allsorts Challenge Blog challenges us to use our favorite craft item on a piece. Die cuts are some of my favorite ways to embellish just about anything I make. The Umbrella Man, another inspiration by Tim, is perfect for my rainy background. I cut my man from gray cardstock using Tim's Bigz die, and cut off the umbrella. I swiped him and the "cloth" part of the umbrella through various Distress stains puddled on my craft mat., taking care not to color the handle.  I dried both pieces with my heat tool.  I swiped silver Distress Stain on the tips of the umbrella and the pointed end.  I stamped wood grain (Heidi Swapp) on the handle in Archival Ink.  My Umbrella Man has a face, which I drew on with a Sharpie pen. I can't tell if he's upset or frightened!  Should have left him faceless, but this is going to my sister. She'll get a laugh at my  pitiful artistic efforts. I finished off the card by distressing the edges with various Distress Inks.

I hope my sister likes her card; she's had to wait a long time for this one!  I hope it stops raining soon, too!

I'm entering this in the following challenges: A Vintage Journey Just Stain It Challenge 11, Country View Challenge Word Play, Allsorts Favourite Things Challenge, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge, and The Mixed Media Challenge #3 Stencils and Paste.