Two weeks ago I sent Munchkin off to Ireland for 10 weeks to study abroad. This card is in honorof her, that lucky girl! She is staying in Dublin, poised to a prime spot to see the ultimate St Patty's Parade.
This card has some fun elements, dry embossed edges, cute tag by Pretty Pink Posh (as well as the sequins). The shamrock is a heart die. The stamp is from Lawn Fawn after doing a little stampectomy (Lucky Stars set) and it's a shaker card.
I feel almost guilty to saying this because so much of the East Coast has been buried in snow (2 winters in a row!) and I sit here in the sunshine in Southern CA. I so enjoy getting sunflowers for the home, to brighten the whole place up. These stamps are by Penny Black, white embossed. I used what I like to call my palette paints (the ones that come in a tube). So many colors to blend. I cannot stress enough to use watercolor paper for your watercolor projects. No sentiment on this beauty. I'm letting the flowers do all the talking.
I wanted to compare the watercolor papers that I have on hand. The stamps and colors are the same for all three with different background wash techniques. I used Reeves Paints that come in a tube and put in a palette. With the 12 colors in this set, there is countless combinations of colors. I used Med Yellow, Crimson, Sap Green and Viridian Hue. For this first card, I used Strathemore 300 Series. Very little warping, a nice paper to work with. I added lots of water to the flowers and dropped the color in. With a clean, wet round brush, I went around the flowers while they were still wet and drew out the colors from the flowers. Once the background and flowers were dry, I painted the leaves and stems. This card was the most fun to make. Love seeing the paint expand in the water. There was very little warping even with all that water. Very nice paper to work with.
This Happy Birthday card is my favorite. This is the Strathmore 400 Series paper. I added minimal amount of water to the flowers, dropped the color in and painted it in. Once the flowers were dry, on to the leaves. For the background wash, I combined all four colors and made this beautiful sage color. This paper had no warping, but then again I didn't use much water. This card is my favorite. I like the crispness of it even for a watercolor.
This final card, I used Hobby Lobby brand watercolor paper. It was very inexpensive and is absolutely terrible. The only thing I like about it is that it's white. The other two is off white, even though it's hard to tell. The card peeled up while applying my tape runner, YUCK! I used the same sage color and did the background first, not being too careful with staying out of the lines. It looked terrible, even after adding the other colors. So I added this Heidi Swapp Mint spray. Added some sequins and the sentiment to salvage it.
If I could leave you with this, if you are going to watercolor, use watercolor paper. Using cardstock, even the heavy duty (110 lbs weight) is not suited to be used with water. I have only used the ones mentioned as well as Tim Holtz watercolor paper. I am certain Canson and Arches paper are fantastic, but I am very happy with Strathmore.
I am very excited and pleased to present my first video on this topic. I would be tickled pink if you would subscribe to my channel. If you found it helpful, a thumbs up would be great.
I am a bit frustrated attempting to post this to my blog. This is my third attempt and I am most certain that it is much shorter than my two previous attempts that seemed to just disappear. To get more info on this card, look at my Instagram and follow me to see the other two cards I made using the same stamps, same paints but different papers and techniques.
If you saw my stamp collection, you would find a large number of word sets and not much else. I am addicted to word stamps and dies (don't let me get started on all the dies!). I have to make myself look for anything other than words. There are so many wonderful sets and stamps out there. Because of my love for watercolor, I feel that Penny Black makes some beautiful stamps that are perfect for watercolors.
I am entering this card into The Card Concept #29 Get Well Soon. My cards tend to be Clean ans Simple. I used Derwent Inktense pencils/ The light blue background is Distressed Ink. Sprinkled with sequins.
I am trying to be more consistent with posting my cards. Time has a way of getting away from me. I know that I am not alone in this. Luckily, I am able to create more in the evenings and I post those on Instagram. Look for me as #ranciert
I got up early this morning, starting my day getting those pesky chores out of the way. Munchkin and I cleaned the apartment yesterday in preparation for our annual Valentine's Day party. So this morning is more straightening up, do laundry, put party remnants away. That gave me time to look online for a few challenges. I am a big fan of Kim Hughes and Paper Smooches. I knew that I wanted to watercolor some of her birds. I used Staedtler watercolor pencils for the bird and Distressed Ink for the balloons and background. I used watercolor paper which makes all the difference. I embossed Hip to be Square background stamp in white and then used two shades of pink for the wash. I wanted the bird to be the focal point so I didn't add any purple to the background or anywhere else on the card. To see more of the watercolor birds, look at my Instagram.
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