Happy rainbow hearts

We're stuck smack dab in the middle of winter in my neck of the woods, which means there isn't much color to speak of outside. So looking at these two rainbow-y cards really makes my heart happy.

Supplies:
Stamps: Simple Strips Background (Taylored Expressions)
Paper: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White, thick Whisper White card stock (Stampin' Up!); watercolor paper (Strathmore)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); watercolor inks: Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, Lake Blue (Brea Reese)
Accessories: Hearts Entwined die (My Favorite Things), Simple Strips die (Taylored Expressions), shimmer mist (made with Shimmer Liquid Watercolor [Taylored Expressions] and rubbing alcohol), sparkling clear sequins and clear droplets (Pretty Pink Posh), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute), foam tape (3M)

I love, love how these cards turned out, and they are among some of my all-time favorites. The starting point for them was a kit that contained a few Brea Reese watercolor inks. There were three colors in the kit -- Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, and Lake Blue -- and I wanted to experiment with making them into a rainbow.

I cut a piece of watercolor paper to the size of my card front and spritzed it with water. Then, holding the paper vertically and resting the bottom edge (one of the long sides) on a paper towel, I squeezed some red ink along the left portion of the top edge. As the red ink ran down the paper, I added yellow near the middle, overlapping some of the red. I continued by adding blue, overlapping part of the yellow, and finally added a bit of red at the right side to combine with the blue and make purple. As the colors spread and blended, they made this gorgeous rainbow. (Hint: If needed, spritz on more water to help the colors blend. And you can tip the paper different directions to encourage the blending a bit)

Once that panel was dry, I die cut it with the Hearts Entwined die, making sure I saved all the little bits that fall out of the middle of the hearts. I adhered the border piece to a heavy white card base. Then I die cut the hearts again out of black card stock and glued the black heart outline into the "frame" on the card base. Then I glued all those little pieces back inside the black hearts. For the second card, I simply glued the die-cut rainbow hearts onto a Crumb Cake card base.

I embellished both cards with clear accents (droplets or sequins) and added a sentiment made near the bottom of the die-cut hearts. You can't see it in this photo, but I also added some shimmer mist. I made my own in a little mister bottle; I just filled the bottle about 1/4 full with Shimmer Liquid Watercolor and the rest with rubbing alcohol. It is the most gorgeous mist ever (but I do think I need to unclog my mister now).

Thanks for stopping by today! May your heart always be happy!