this was the most fun i've had all year! (so far)

if you enjoy making a big splodgy mess with paints and inks and gesso... (& who doesn't??!) ...then you definitely need to check out this completely AWESOME tutorial by julie balzer* on using prima flowers as masks for a wonderful sprayed ink background! here's a card i made with my first attempt at this technique:**

(plain white cardstock: staples; glossy white cardstock: ranger; pink patterned paper: provocraft; gem flourish & flowers used as masks: prima (btw, said flowers which all cool & inky and then you smear 'em with gesso to get a cool mottled effect; julie b. used hers on her LO; i've saved mine for later) alphabet masks: heidi swapp; velvet flower & fancy brad: k&co; pen: sakura; spray inks: smoosh & glimmer mist; adhesives: tombow monorunner & sewing machine; other: dymo labeller, watercolor paints to drip and brush)

i really like how this came out...but next time i think i'll leave more of the masked bits *WHITE* instead of going back in with a layer of watercolors. it's not that they look bad, but in retrospect i really love the shadowy white bits up at the top right, and i wish there were more of those. still, i think this is quite an honorable first go! i need some more of those little smoosh spray thingies though, for sure, i can totally feel an addiction coming on! ♥♥♥

eta thursday night: many thanks to my lovely friend and jacksonbelle embellishments rockstar ♥amy tsuruta♥ for the suggestion that i enter this in jacksonbelle's current tuesday challenge, "blinging in the new year"!

*which darling stef sent me! i'm telling you, you NEED to check out her thursday link love posts...and by golly, today's thursday...we're just in time!!!

**i know, i know, just when you thought you'd seen it all: i have actually tried A TECHNIQUE! who'd've thunk it, eh??!) :)