Category: Watercoloring

Hello, Friend

I purchased the Mama Elephant Tree Friends stamp weeks ago and have just now gotten a chance to play with it.

Hello, Friend

I was inspired by the way that Mariana Grigsby used this set on her card, and set out to replicate it. However, I struggled with adding the Distress Ink with embossing brushes (it might be because I don’t own the same brushes she used). After admitting failure (and restamping the tree!), I decided to watercolor the tree image with Distress Inks using a water brush. Rather than use water, I used the Ink Potion No. 9, which seems to help with warping. I added a few glossy accents like Mariana did. I like the effect and it definitely adds some texture and shine. I’ll have to remember to use them in the future on similar projects.

I’d like to revisit this stamp set with a different set of colors for the flowers. Maybe something in an autumnal color palette. 🙂

Penny Black Sunny Days

I absolutely adore the stamp images in the Penny Black Sunny Days set. I’m sharing a card in which I have paired the soccer-playing dog with a sentiment from the Friendship set.

Penny Black Sunny Days

After stamping with Versafine ink and heat embossing, I colored the dog and soccer ball with Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils (there’s just a bit of white pencil on the soccer ball). With advice from Elizabeth Allan, I used Ink Potion No. 9, rather than water, to blend the watercolor pencil. I stamped the image on cardstock, rather than watercolor paper, as I didn’t want my cardstock to pill. I’m happy to report that the Ink Potion did the trick. I also tried a version with my Prismacolor pencils, but I preferred the vividness that I achieved with the Inktense pencils.

I finished the card off with some clouds cut with Memory Box dies and adhered the blue panel to a woodgrain-cardstock card base.

Stretch Your Stamps – Distress Ink Watercoloring

I’m sharing another card from the Stretch Your Stamps Online Card Class. This is my version of one of the cards created for that class by Jennifer McGuire using the Hero Arts Hearts and Flowers stamp set.

Stretch Your Stamps - Distress Ink Watercoloring

I watercolored the flowers with a combination of Distress Inks. The card background is stamped with the Out of Print stamp. I used Bubble Gum shadow ink on Punch cardstock. I initially tried stamping with Versamark ink, but it barely showed up. Then I tried stamping with the Punch chalk ink, but that was too dark. The Bubble Gum was just right!

Have a fabulous day!

Supplies:

Sail Away

I’m back today sharing another stamped and watercolored image from the Penny Black Sunny Days set. I loosely followed the sketch for the Summer Card Camp 2 Pre-Class Challenge for this card, and you’ll notice that I’ve used the same clouds for this card as I did for my first Pre-Class Challenge sketch card. 🙂

Penny Black Sail Away

I follow the lovely blog Home is Where the Boat is and thought that title was the perfect sentiment for the cat at sea in a sailboat, which I created on my computer. Wouldn’t it be fun to live on a boat? 

I used a combination of Derwent Inktense and Prismacolor watercolor pencils for the Sunny Days image. Have a fantastic weekend – we’re hoping for some warmer, sunny weather here in the Pacific Northwest.

Sunny Days Cat

The moment I saw the Sunny Days stamp set, I knew I wanted it! And when Elizabeth Allan posted this incredible card, I knew which image I wanted to start with! I just love this cat.

Sunny Days

This card, which is just over 3″ around, took me several tries using watercolor pencils. I learned something important about Inktense pencils, which are the watercolor pencils I’ve been using – the colors are permanent once you go over them with water. In other words, when you add water, Inktense produces ink not watercolor paint. So, I used Prismacolor pencils for the fur, because I wanted to be able to work the color more than once. The fins, sunglasses and beach towel, however, are colored with the Inktense pencils. I stamped the inside of the card with the “A Sunny Hello” sentiment from the set.

Wishing you a “Sunny Day.”