Watercolor Story Illustration - Nanhi Chidiya

Nanhi Chidiya - Small little Bird....

This is a story of a little bird, a dainty-darling, cute little thing,
even a strong wind can blow her away, but whose courage was as big as she was small....

A story me n my first grader wrote for her class's "show and tell".

One day a dense forest caught fire...

All the animals were running scared, looking for shelters to save their life...

Perched on a tall tree our little bird was observing all this...it got in her head that she should do something to stop the fire before it spreads and destroys their home & their beautiful jungle...

She flew to the jungle's stream, collected as much water as she can in her little beak,
flew to the where the fire was and poured it on a small plant which had just caught fire...

It didn't made much difference, but she kept at it relentlessly.
Flying back and forth between the river and corner of the jungle where the fire was ragging.

Seeing her effort, many animals stopped running. Some were impressed, thinking they should also pitch in, but most off them thought of her as a fool and started laughing at her.

She felt hurt and said to them....
I know I'm small and alone can't stop the fire. But I'll not give up. I'll try my best.
But if we all get together, we definitely can, not only stop the fire from spreading and destroying our homes but our beautiful jungle too.

Everyone loves their home, so they got together to try. Elephants brought water in their trunks and sprayed on fire, so did the birds. Dogs and cats even the small animals like mice helped by digging the ground and throwing the mud on fire.  Encouraging and helping each other.

And that's how they not only saved their homes but their beautiful jungle too.
And in the process they all learnt few very important lessons....

1. We should NOT GIVE UP, for the fear of  failure.

2. We should keep TRYING, till we SUCCEED. 

3. We should do our BEST.

4. Unity is STRENGTH.

So,

What do you say....How do you like my my little one's story....
Do let me know .....your feedback means a lot....

Cheers
Shilpi

Mixed Media Arty-Crafty Magnets

Hello and welcome dear friends....

At the end of my kid's exams (means just 4-5 days back) I came across Mudra Craft Stamps 1st Challenge , and I Loved the theme - ANYTHING GOES ....
And being a crafter what else you can ask for ;)
So here is my take on it....

I have this beautiful mudra stamp named "Dreamcatcher" which I have been wanting to use for some time.

As I made 4 canvas kind mixed media magnets.
I had planned to sketch a face on the forth one to complete the story,
But instead used "Prima marketing inc 's Bloom collection"

I loved it even better....It so very much goes with the visual image I had.

There are layers of fun involved in these magnets....
but as I'm running out of time for today, I'll write the detailed tutorial post tomorrow ;)

Can you guess my secret....No!!!.... I'll reveal it all tomorrow....

I have used die-cuts,
I have done stamping,
I have done decoupage,
And off-course
I have done coloring...

Linking these Magnets to

MudraCraftStamps CHALLENGE #1 - ANYTHING GOES

So,

What do you say....How do you like my magnets....
Do let me know .....your feedback means a lot....

Cheers
Shilpi

Decoupage on Die-cut Textured Birthday Card

Hello Friends, Welcome !!!...

Birthday's are suppose to be full of sunshine and rainbows

And love and laughter....
And off-course diamonds and roses are a girls best friend
Today and years after.....

So today I'm here with a birthday card

Which is very close to my heart,
As it's for my childhood best friend,
Who has been their in my life from the start.

Hmmm !!!!
What's happening today....everything seems to by rhyming.... 

"Funny Mamma!!!" as my daughter will say...

Anyway.
Now a days I'm having fun combining  different different techniques....

I started this card by creating textured background. With Martha Stewart's punch, 

I have cut strips of "Happy Birthday". 

Then pasted those strips uniformly on card stock with all purpose white glue. 

That created a non-ending textured background.
It was looking really nice.

What say ?!!

But my need to add color has prompted me to try decoupage on top....

So here I go....

I took a beautiful big rose printed decoupage tissue. 

Measured and cut out all the extra bits. 

Removed the 2nd ply of tissue. 

Applied Mod-Podge generously on my "Happy Birthday" textured background.

Pasted the tissue carefully, so there are no bubbles or  unnecessary creases.

  

Applied another layer of Mod-Podge on top as well. 

Pushing the brush in all the crevices and corners, 

so the "Happy Birthday" texture is well defined for my next step.

This is how it was looking when it was fully dry....

Beautifully wrapped around all the alphabets.

Once everything was dry, I applied distress ink on raised texture to enhance it more.... 

Can You see it ?? 

I had used "Peeled Paint" on leaves and "Festive Berries" and "Abandon Coral" on Roses

It really was looking superb. But...

Alas !!!
It was no go. As Mod-Podge is a sealant it doesn't allow water based Distress ink to stay on top. So the moment my hand touched the inked texture I got stamped ;) 

Can you believe that.....

(Good for stamping from your own die-cuts, that's the experiments for next post ;) ) Anyway!! Either I should have used permanent stamping ink or I should have applied clear Gesso before inking it. Gesso would have helped distress ink to adhere properly. *New Learning*  HmmmmI!

So I switched to Inka-Gold colors then.
Love the smooth thickness and rub-on quality of Inka-Golds.
Followed the same color pattern ratio as in printed tissue, in 1st layer of coloring. 

In 2nd layer of coloring added a bit more of pink, as it was working as neutral enhancer. 

Then in 3rd n final layer of coloring I used the complementary color
so the "Happy Birthday" texture pops-up nicely amidst the strong enough print.
Yaay!!! My textured background  was ready.

Next I stamped my Birthday sentiment on a small piece of card stock with archival black ink.

I really like this birthday sentiment stamp from Mudra stamps....You know WHY ??

Because this sentiment says "SPECIAL" in double lined font. And that gives me a chance not only to have my sentiment in strong solid black but also to fill in the color of my choice ,in my sentiment, to match my card..... Double Yaay !!! 

P.S. I filled the SPECIAL with watered down Inka-Gold color itself.

That done, I assembled the card together.

I pasted the textured and decoupaged background on aqua card stock.
And pasted them on my card with double sided foam tape.
Adhered my sentiment tag on top with organza ribbon and double sided foam tape.
And lastly added cute little 3D paper roses and leaves to finish the card.

What say !!!

Linking this card to 

MudraCraftStamps CHALLENGE #1 - ANYTHING GOES

Craft Stampers Take It Make It Challenge

Thanks for taking the time to stop by....

Do let me know how you guys like my card....

Cheers

Shilpi

Watercolor Poem Illustration - I know an old lady who swallowed a fly

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly 

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly.

I don't know why she swallowed a fly.

Perhaps she'll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a spider.

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

I don't know why she swallowed a fly.

Perhaps she'll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a bird.

How absurd to swallow a bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider.

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

I don't know why she swallowed a fly.

Perhaps she'll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a cat.

Imagine that! she swallowed a cat!

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider.

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

I don't know why she swallowed a fly. 

Perhaps she'll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a dog.

Oh what a hog to swallow a dog.

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider.

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

I don't know why she swallowed a fly. 

Perhaps she'll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a cow.

I don't know how she swallowed a cow.

She swallowed the cow to catch the dog.

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider.

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

I don't know why she swallowed a fly. 

Perhaps she'll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a horse.

She died, of course!