Right as Rain

Hello! Penny Black’s new Joyful Fall stamp set, released this month, includes four girl images, and I chose one of them for this fall card. It was just the thing for a low-energy, low-bandwidth day. Die cutting often involves lots of decisions and product choices, but with this image, I could sit down, watercolor first, and worry about the card design afterward.

Once the painting was finished, I framed it with a Penny Black die set and added texture with woodgrain cardstock and a stamped knit cable background (now-retired MFT Knitted Sweater background stamp). I stamped the background panel while writing this post. The overall card size is 4 1/2″ square.

Hello! One of my resolutions this year is to craft more seasonally and to watercolor more often. I’m trying to be intentional about both, using the seasons as a reason to reach for stamps and supplies I already own and giving myself more opportunities to practice watercoloring. This fall card brought those two goals together.

Today, I am sharing a fall-themed watercolored card. For this card, I used the Penny Black Autumn Boots stamp (introduced a few years ago). I stamped the image with Archival Watering Can ink and watercolored it with Tombow markers and Distress inks. After the image dried, I used an A2-size die to cut it. Next, I stamped the image onto masking paper, fussy-cut the masking paper, and covered the image with the mask before adding ink for the ground and sky. The detailed design made the masking more challenging than I expected, and the background was only partly successful. To complete the sky, I added ink with my paintbrush.

The process reminded me that I should first watercolor the background before I watercolor the image.

For the sentiment, I used a newer Penny Black stamp set with a coordinating die, which made adding the sentiment stress-free.