While it’s the beginning of winter here, I can always be counted on making a summer card (or 10) anyway. I never allow snowflakes outside to stop my love of all things summer and beachy!
Our theme at Crazy 4 Challenges last week (sorry I’m late posting) was ‘take a hike’. As I am disabled, hikes are never on the schedule but if I was going to hike, this looks like a great place to do it. But that sounds suspiciously like exercise! Ugh! This ‘watercolour’ was done with Art Impressions watercolour stamps. If you haven’t heard of them, they have various stamps of buildings, animals, trees, plants, flower, animals, accessories like pots and birdhouses and even a few kids. To create a watercolour scene, you stamp them with water soluble inks or markers on Bristol or watercolour paper. Then you blend the ink with a wet brush. Ta Da! Your own watercolour painting! The flowers in pots are usually the easiest. Buildings are pretty easy too if you watch the videos on YouTube to get the best results. I use a combo of Tombow and Marvy Le Plume II markers. The former blend moderately while the latter blend a lot. If you want the ink to spread but still maintain the lines fairly clearly, use the Tombow. If you want a very washy look, use Marvy. I’m not a huge fan of Stampin’ Up! or Distress markers but as long as they are water-based, they should work to some extent.
It does take some practice to get these to work. I’ve tried a few times and not loved the results. But as I get to be a better watercolourist and get better tools, Hello Black Velvet Brushes, I do a better job with these stamps. Watching a million of their videos helps a ton too! I still have lots of work to do, especially on the tall trees but it was fun. Especially imagining myself there instead of in the snowy north! We are actually in one of the more southern areas of Canada so we don’t usually get any serious snow until late December or January. We often have a non-white X-mas but this year winter is really early! I hadn’t even gotten out the kids winter boots when we got a huge storm! But no matter the weather, expect more summer cards to come!
Enjoy, Rebecca
My Crafts are Like a Box of Chocolates 