Birdie Brown -- Red Farm

Today's card features two sets from Birdie Brown -- Green Pastures and The Whole Herd. I had bought these two sets earlier in the month, and I immediately stamped them out and colored them. And then...

And then I just could not figure out how to turn them into a card. I had this strange idea in my head that was both vague and specific at the same time. I know I wanted to do a scene card, for example, but not what kind of scene I wanted.

This led to several failed attempts where things just didn't feel right. I tried using fun paper, curvy dies (like the rolling hills die) and even a messy watercolor (that turned out awful, by the way, as I was impatient and didn't let my colors dry properly), but none of them were right. So, I set the stamps aside for a few days and worked on something else.

Then last night, my mind finally clicked and I realized that I wanted to have a red barn/farmhouse/building in my scene. MFT does have a barn die set, but I haven't bought it. And I don't own any building stamps that could pass as a barn. So, I decided to illustrate my own.

And since I was in a super-creative mood, I decided to jump right into it with just my Copics. That's right, I didn't use any pencil lines, didn't plan anything out other than leave a bit of room for the girl and the pig on the left side, and I had fun!

I used reds and greys for the building (E08, R59, R89, W6, E79, BV13), browns for the ground (E33, E35, E37) and greens for the grass (YG13, YG23, YG67). I had originally colored the entire sky blue (B00, BG01), but I realized that I wanted to break it up with some clouds. I colored the cloud bottom with grays (W4, W2, C2), then grabbed some white acrylic paint. I used a dry brush to add spots of white in the clouds, which created a great texture. I then added a couple of details on the handle and the hinges with a white gel pen.

I'm happy with how the background turned out. It's got its wonky kind of charm.

I finished off the card by adding the girl and the pig on foam squares and matting it onto some yellow gingham paper before adhering it to a white card base.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~