Watercolour Smooshing for Make It Monday

I have to be honest, I prefer this technique with Distress inks but it was fun using some bright new colours. I’ve actually been doing this technique for a long time as it’s pretty much the same as Tim Holtz’ no wrinkle distress technique. I tried it on regular card stock and I’ve got to tell you, I didn’t like the result. The paper was all bumpy and yucky. No idea why, I used good cardstock!

I placed this panel on a hibiscus burst notecard which you can’t tell from the front view. I forgot to take a side view. It’s quite a fun surprise when you open it! To get the gold edges without using a big piece of pricey gold paper, I used a gold paint pen on the edges of the card base (disguising the bright pink from the front) and on the white panel under the aqua mist panel. It’s hard from this view to even see that it’s another panel and not just a gold edge on the aqua one but trust me ;)

I’m entering this in Make It Monday.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Thanks all Ways-PTI
Ink: hibiscus, melon berry, harvest moon, blueberry sky, winter wisteria-PTI, certainly celery-PTI, versamark
Paper: W&N watercolour paper, white, aqua, hibiscus CS-PTI
Accessories: Krylon gold paint pen

Runway Inspired Card with Smooshing

I was inspired by the most beautiful dress on the Runway Inspired blog. It reminded me of the rose gold Pearl Ex have had for so very long but never used.

I started with a 4x5.5” panel of watercolour paper. I smooshed it in a combination of pink watercolour paint and gold pearlescent watercolour paint. Shame it doesn’t show up more but it’s the perfect colour. Then I stencilled on some transparent embossing paste mixed with rose gold Pearl Ex using a diagonal line stencil. It looks so pretty. I’m amazed my picture shows it off at all! Then I die cut a piece of white cardstock covered in Scor-Tape. Next time I will try the new Ken Oliver thin adhesive and or thinner cardstock because it took me ages to get through both thick layers and the backing paper.

I mounted the panel to a pink card base with gold glitter tape on one side then covered the die cut liberally with warm micro fine glitter and burnished it well. I mounted it on foam dots, leaving a couple of leaves adhered to the background directly and a few with a double layer. This gives it a more realistic feel than if it was all on one layer. Last but not least was the gold embossed sentiment and a few sequins.

I’m entering this in the Runway Inspired challenge.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: SSS Love This
Ink: versamark
Paper: Windsor and Newton watercolour paper, blush CS-PTI
Accessories: gold EP-SU!, clear sequins-Pretty Pink Posh, W&N paint, Niji pearlescent paints, Wendy Vecchi translucent embossing paste, rose gold pearl ex

Ombre Sympathy Card

I love ombre effects. They can be elegant or clean and simple or whatever you like them to be. Yet another challenge from PTI’s 8th Anniversary celebration.

I water coloured this panel and I wanted white edges but when I goofed that up, I trimmed the panel. Next I die cut the words from the watercolour paper. It is quite thick, took about 10 passes and I had to use a new plate with a metal shim to get it to cut. Yikes! The paper is really good quality from the art store that you buy in individual sheets; I got it back when I used to watercolour paint about 15+ years ago. Once I finally got it to cut through, I cut three more and layered them together. I saved the coloured bits from between the letter loops and glued them in without layering them.

The easiest way to glue the letters into the card for this technique is to add strips of double sided adhesive behind the word opening. If you are layering your die cut panel on foam dots, then add the double sided tape and add cardstock to the back. If not layering, just add it to your card base or panel. Once you turn the panel over, you will have the opening with solid adhesive behind it. This means that not only will the inset die cut have total adhesion but so will all the little bits around the opening.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Out on a Limb Revised-PTI
Ink: chocolate, wisteria, charteuse ink, blueberry sky-PTI, Paris Dusk-Memento
Paper: enchanted evening CS-PTI, watercolour paper-Strathmore
Accessories: word die-Dee-Lites, yellow paper pen-Viva Decor

Watercolour Poppies

I recently bought this stamp set used (love the cost savings!!) and I was eager to try it out. I needed a couple thinking of you cards anyway and I LOVE this Thinking of You sentiment from Simon Says Stamp.

I used Twinkling H2Os for the background. It is subtle but pretty and shimmery. I used green at the base of the poppies, blue at the top and turquoise at the bottom. I originally die cut the flowers with the matching dies but I wasn’t a fan of the white edge so I trimmed them by hand. Especially when layered over the stems which were not die cut.

I stamped the flowers in Distress ink but the results were splotchy on the watercolour paper so I smoothed them with a wet paint brush. Then I added some more colour from the ink pad smooshed on my craft sheet to add some depth. I’m afraid that doesn’t show very well in the photo. I added some black accents with a C9 and 100 (black) Copic marker.

To finish the card, I added some crocheted lace and twine. The watercolour panel was layered on an aqua card base stamped with the script stamp from the poppy set.

I’m really sorry to have posted so infrequently lately. Summer was really busy and I’ve been suffering with a really bad case of frozen shoulder. I have a lot of pain and very limited range of motion. So a huge thank you to all of you who have stuck with me and not unsubscribed!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Poppies-MFT, sentiment-SSS
Ink: Distress worn lipstick, aqua mist-PTI, green leaves-Memento, Archival black
Paper: Windsor and Newton Watercolour paper, aqua mist CS-PTI
Accessories: crocheted lace, Divine Twine, Twinkling H2Os, Copics, foam dots-The Sticky Stuff Store, sequins-SSS card kit

Shabby Watercolour Balloon for Unscripted #258

I really enjoyed the Online Classes Watercolour for Card Makers class. I learned I was not using enough water to get a really good watercolour look.

I used lots of water for this! Actually, it was hard to mix the colours to match the papers so when I coloured it, it was too bright. So I tried adding water and lifting the colour to soften the overall look. It worked a bit but was still pretty bright so I added a wash of gesso over top. It worked really well but it dulled the stamping lines so I went over them with a pen.

It’s a really fun sketch this week with lots of layers for those of you who love them like I do! I hope you will come and play with us. Be sure to check out the awesome projects by the team at Unscripted Sketches.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Unity
Ink: potting soil Archival ink, frayed burlap Distress
Paper: chocolate CS-PTI, DP-Webster’s Pages, vintage music paper, watercolour paper-Windsor & Newton
Accessories: foam dots-The Sticky Stuff Store, watercolour-Windsor & Newton, lace-vintage, ribbon-May Arts

To the Moon and Back for Unscripted Sketches #250

This week’s Unscripted Sketches sketch was one of my favourites so far!

There’s a detail you may not be able to see right away, the navy areas are all covered in pearl-coloured Perfect Pearls which makes the card look pretty and shimmery. If you ever make a card like this, cut the star after watercolouring. My paper warped really badly (it isn’t watercolour paper) and the top corner that’s hanging on my just those two bits of paper was really hard to flatten and even creased at those points. Oh, and sorry about the crooked sentiment, with each letter on a different baseline, it’s a tricky one to stamp straight.

I can’t wait to see what you all do with this sketch! (My other idea was fireworks!) Don’t forget you can turn or flip the sketch any way you like!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: PTI Mixed Messages and Out on a Limb Sentiments
Ink: navy-SU!
Paper: navy CS-SU!, white CS-PTI
Accessories: star die-PTI, white EP-Hero Arts, watercolour pencils (used brush-to-tip)-Derwent Inktense, Perfect Pearls-Ranger

Sick Teddy Bear for Unscripted Sketches #243

I took a chance on going back to water colouring since I just had to get some Derwent Inktense Pencils. I mean, if Jennifer McGuire recommends them, they have to be amazing right? And they are except I have no flesh colour and dang it, it’s hard to mix!

And as you can see, its a bit too light, maybe more than a bit! I tried mixing red and brown with lots of water but it was so hard to get just right. but she still looks awfully cute to me! I had brighter papers in mind but with her skin coming out so pale, they were too overwhelming so i looked for the softest ones I could find. Melissa Frances to the rescue. The background blue is much softer IRL but unless I increased the saturation, her face looked white. It is soft with a touch of gray really.

This sketch was fun, I loved the long skinny panels that were PERFECT for washi tape! Do you have lots of washi you don’t use often enough? How about ribbon? Any other ideas? Then come on out and play with us at Unscripted Sketches #243! We love to have lots of players to choose our top three from. Come on!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: MFT
Ink: Memento black
Paper: DP-Melissa Frances, watercolour paper-stash, white CS-PTI
Accessories: Derwent Inktense pencils, washi tapes-stash, rhinestones-Dollarama

PTI Blog Hop–Larkspur Sequinned Bookmark Card

This month’s theme is all about sequins. It was harder than I would have thought to find sequins. The ones at Michaels were horribly gaudy! I phoned to ask if they had any and the clerk went to look. I had already told her I wanted pastels and she came back to tell me they had two packs and where they were. When I found them, they were in super metallic Christmas colours – red, green, blue, silver and gold! Seriously, they need new staff!

I finally found a roll a white iridescent sequin trim in the bridal section and removed the string holding the sequins together then airbrushed them for colour. Unfortunately, they aren’t faceted like many I’ve seen people using lately and I wish they were but they will have to do.

I embossed and coloured the larkspur first without a clear idea what I was going to do to make it into a card. I used Distress markers to watercolour it using a loose, painterly technique and not necessarily staying in the lines. Though I have to admit, that is outside my comfort zone so I sort of coloured in the lines first then added some colour outside the lines after. Then while the colour outside the lines was still wet, I added the sky/background colour.

TIP: Leaving white around the outside of the image and not taking the paint to the edges of the paper adds to the ‘painterly’ effect. Sorry the picture is a bit dark, it was the only way you could see the lighter painted areas at all.

Once I trimmed out the image on the sides, I realized it was pretty tall and thin. I could have trimmed the top but I got the idea to make it into a bookmark. I needed a card for a young friend’s recent baptism and then thought about this sentiment and it all fell into place! (We baptize as teens or young adults, not as babies.) She is quite the artist and paints a lot so I knew she’d appreciate it. To hold the bookmark in, I used an old tool, the Basic Grey Notch and Die tool, to cut the circular notches.

I hope you have fun looking at the rest of the projects on the hop. If you’d like to visit again, be sure to sign up for RSS or email subscriptions on my sidebar. Thanks for visiting.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Out on a Limb Sentiments, Year of Flowers Larkspur-PTI
Ink: Versamark, Archival black-Ranger, lemon, lavender, wisteria, chartreuse, moss-PTI
Paper: watercolour paper-stash, rustic white-PTI
Accessories: Distress Markers-Ranger, sequins-Simplicity, Copics and airbrush system, Notch and Die tool, Masterstroke seam binding ribbon, white EP-stash, Crop-a-dile

Pink Peony for Clear Dollar Stamps

This is one of 4 sympathy cards I made for family members recently. This one is for hubby Tim’s mom, it was her mom who died. Doesn’t this beautiful flower work so well for this? I enjoyed making it though I wasn’t stuck on my watercolour technique on this one. I find it hard to make very pale colours look right. Oh well. I wasn’t sure what to do for a sentiment but after thinking about it, the included sentiment worked for this particular occasion because grandma was an avid gardener. I decided to put it inside the card after all, rather than on the front but it reads, “When a flower blooms, so does hope.” Lady Bird Johnson. The button used to be vanilla from SU! but I coloured it pink with a Copic, R21 I think. I traced around the flower using the outer edge of the second largest Labels 4 Nestabilities die. Clearly it isn’t perfect but I like the result and will do it again. I wish Spellbinders would make another set or the Labels dies and Mega Rectangles including intermediate sizes like they do with rectangles, circles etc

I used my bow easy to create this cute little bow AND I threaded in the ribbon that goes across the card while making it. I don’t like just plunking a bow on top of the ribbon across the card. Because it isn’t puckered, it gives away that you ‘cheated’! Yeah, I know it isn’t really cheating, if it looks good there is no cheating, but I really like the ribbon underneath to be puckered so I throw in a second ribbon before tying; it is really easy. I hope to do a photo tutorial on it soon as well as some other bow tying and Bow Easy tips. If you are interested in a Bow Easy, visit Sharon Johnson’s blog and click on her Tools page way up high by her blog header. Super cheap and easy to use.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Peony by Clear Dollar Stamps
Ink: Stazon brown, mellow moss-SU!
Paper: Basic Grey DP, mellow moss CS, watercolour paper-Strathmore
Accessories: ribbon-Masterstroke, Button-SU!, green buttons-Basic Grey, foam dots-Jody Morrow, Labels 4 dies, mellow moss marker-SU!
Technique: watercolour