Category: Watercoloring

OCC Watercolor Day 2

Today was another fun day in the Online Card Classes Watercolor for Card Makers class, in which we had a second day to explore watercolored backgrounds. I’m sharing two cards based on cards shown by Debby Hughes in today’s class. I’ve substituted stamps in my stash for those she used on her cards.

DayTwoRaspberry

DayTwoPeacock

Both cards use the Hero Arts Simple Leaf background stamp.  For the top card, I inked the stamp with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink, gave the stamp about ten squirts of water with a Mini Mister, and pressed Ranger watercolor paper, smooth side down, onto the stamp. For the second card, I stamped with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink using the same method. To be honest, I’ve hardly used this stamp because I got stuck on it being a leaf motif. I like the Batik-like feel it gives, stamped with this technique.

Debby is a master at adding accents to her designs, in this case, black and white with touches of gold. I stamped an Impression Obsession Thin Line background stamp with VersaMark ink on vellum and heat-embossed it with Hero Arts gold powder. I used stripes of the heat-embossed vellum on both cards for a gold accent. Both card sentiments are from Hero Arts.

OCC Watercolor Day 1

Today is Day One of the Online Card Classes Watercolor for Card Makers class. My card is a CASE of the one shown by Jennifer Rzasa.

OCC Watercolor Day 1

 

The focus of today’s lesson is on creating backgrounds with watercolors. I used Strathmore 140 lb coldpress paper and pan watercolors. I applied several shades of watercolor to a wet background, then I brushed several of the colors through a Studio Calico stencil. Jennifer shared a method in which she put the stencil on top of the wet painted paper, weighted in down, and allowed the paint to puddle up through the stencil. I tried this and met with no success. I also tried using Distress Inks on Ranger watercolor paper and the results weren’t to my liking.

My favorite thing about this card is the design. I really like adding a sentiment with a tag.

Additional Supplies: My Favorite Things sentiment and tag die

Poppystamps: Starry Night

Hello, today I’m sharing a card created with Poppystamps dies and a Memory Box stencil suitable for any occasion. My inspiration was a clear night in the Pacific Northwest. Year-round we have beautiful evergreen trees, and the Pine Tree Border fits perfectly with the Brevilla House die. We’re more apt to have a clear night during the summer.

HousesMay2014

To begin, I colored three watercolor panels with Distress Inks. I die cut the panel colored in earthtones with the Brevilla Houses die, and I die cut the green-colored panel with the Pine Tree Border. I intentionally left some of the windows in place in the houses for some variety. Finally, I applied embossing paste through the Starry Nights stencil onto the panel colored in dark blues.  Before applying the embossing paste, I covered up the largest stars in the stencil with washi tape. Even though the stars aren’t realistically in scale with the houses, the largest stars would have thrown off the balance considerably.

Supplies:

Just Cut Tulips

I’ve been watercoloring with Distress Inks a lot lately – stamped images, die cuts, whatever I can find that will take the ink.

IOTulips

You have to give a little visual leeway with this card in terms of whether the tulips are really in the watering can (that right-hand tulip leaf is sticking out!). I got to this design the long way round. At first, I planned to put the watering can, which is cut from Strathmore 140 lb cold-press watercolor paper and colored with Broken China and Vintage Photo, directly on top of the stamped and colored tulips. But when I watercolored the cast shadow, it was a mess. (I’ve subsequently practiced painting cast shadow bases!)

The dry-embossed card base, with the circle cutout, is my design fix for the poorly painted cast shadow. By the way, the Bazzill 100 lb. cardstock is becoming my go-to supply – even dry-embossed and holding the watercolor panels, it’s standing strong.

Supplies:

Penny Black Sunshiny Hello

Today I’m sharing a card created with two new Penny Black Stamp Sets – Sunny Hello [#30-230] and Petal Power [#30-225]. It’s pouring here in the Pacific Northwest, but I’m imagining a sunny summer day!

SunnyFlowers

I stamped the flower and stem from Petal Power after coloring them with Distress Ink markers and lightly spritzing the surface. I began in the lower right corner, masking my stamping as I went, next to the flower on the left, and then to the flower on the top right. I finished the panel with Distress Ink applied with a sponge dauber. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment from Sunny Hello – there are some wonderful sentiments in this set!