Brushos for all seasons by Karen

I set out to make some Springtime cards and, in trying out two colourways, created Spring and Summer. Of course, I then had to create Autumn and Winter to match and decided to share the four with you today!

The tree stamp (an old one from Penny Black) is one of those which, having almost bare branches, lends itself to any season and I stamped on to light weight (160gsm) watercolour paper with water-resistant ink so I could sprinkle the brushos where I wanted them and wet them without the ink running. The Brusho colours I chose are: 

Spring : Alizarin Crimson and Lime Green;

Summer: Alizarin Crimson and Emerald Green;

Autumn: Gamboge, Sandstone, Vermillion, Moss Green and Light Brown

Winter: Cobalt Blue, Turquoise, Grey and White

After stamping the trees, I added colour to the branches in tiny amounts, not forgetting to add colour to the base to 'ground' the tree. I then misted them with water and added more colour if needed. I also keptea paper towel handy to lift any excess water if it starts to run.  Here is the point where I stopped adding colour and water to these papers, just before I then dusted them with Brusho 'SprinkleIt' in Irridescent Gold for the Autumn card and Irridescent Flash for the Winter card:

It was very hard to capture a photo of the sparkle the Sprinkle-It gives but in real life it is lovely as it catches the light.

To decorate the trees further I wanted to add more dimension on the spots along the branches and, for the Autumn and Winter cards I chose to add dots of foil highlights so I added Flexi-glue and left it to be almost dry. The nozzle of the Flexi-glue is fine enough that it was an easy job.

For the Spring and Summer cards I wanted dimensional dots of colour so I had a 'what if...' moment and mixed some Flexi-glue with Alizarin Crimson and it immediately went a very strong shade of pink that I used for my Summer tree. For a paler shade I added some white and mixed that in for a more pastel shade that was ideal for Spring.

As you can see, I mixed and applied this with the opened end of a paper clip! Again, very easy to do with no drips: A slight touch to the paper gave me a tiny dot, more pressure gave a bigger dot. I'm quite thrilled to know I can now have dimensional dots to match my Brusho colours or, by mixing them, to have any colour!

Once the glue was transparent on the Autumn and Winter cards, I applied the Transfoil metallic sheets in silver and copper, laying them over the glue and rubbing the sheet with the backs of my nails to transfer the colour. Where some bigger dots were still a little wet, I left them longer and went back over them.

I managed to get a few shots while the sun was out so that you can see the beautiful effect:

I ran a black pen around the edge of each paper and mounted them on a card blank with 2 mm thick foam.

I showed these to one of my papercrafting classes and got lots of complimentss and questions about how I'd made them so I hope you have enjoyed this explanation. I love the Lime Green and Alizarin Crimson for a Springtime look of a tree coming in to leaf with its blossom. What is your favourite combination?

Thanks for stopping by today. Karen x

Supplies:
Flexi-glue can be found < here >; Brusho Sprinkle-It can be found < here > and the the other supplies I used are as shown below with direct links:

Transfer Foil

Golden haired nylon brushes

15g brusho

Brusho 24 Colour Boxed Set