Tag: Watercolour

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Wild Roses and Woodgrain Card

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Guess what? I’m back as hostess on the Crazy 4 Challenges blog this month! I love being hostess in the summer as I am a huge fan of everything summery, the ocean, beaches, flowers, even the outdoors if I could eliminate insects and creepies! So this week our challenge is to use woodgrain!

c4c 19 woodgrain

I just got a new woodgrain stamp from Stampin’ Up, the first I’ve bought in at least 5 years. So it was perfect for this challenge. I stamped it in Simon Says stamp Khaki ink on PTI kraft cardstock. It was the subtle but not too much so. The flowers are from Simon too, the Delicate Flowers stamp set. I stamped them in Antique Linen Distress ink on some hot press Arches watercolour paper. The ink was quite noticeable at first but melts into the watercolour as you paint. I know some people don’t like that and it might not be ideal for animals or people because you can end up washing away the face detail but for flowers and leaves it’s perfect.

I painted the images with Daniel Smith paints and a Black Velvet Silver Brush. Each petal was done separately using a wet-in-wet technique so I would get a deeper coloured edge to each petal. This happens naturally as the paint dries. I also added some deeper colour at the base of each petal while the paint was still wet. In the case of the pink flowers, I added two colours, one to the tops of the petals then dropping in another colour at the base. Sometimes the colours blended on their own and sometimes I helped them along a touch with my paintbrush. To save paint, it helps to use one for each colour and one for water. This way you aren’t constantly washing paint off your brush! It may not be much but I’m sure it adds up over time. The pale pink flower is my favourite. I love the soft blush shades I managed to achieve.

I added the Hero Arts sentiment with copper embossing powder. Then I decided I needed some more copper. So I tried a trick I’d seen on YouTube, I think it was Kristina Werner. I sprayed some water from my spray bottle into my hand then added embossing powder. It won’t stay on long enough to heat set, it will blow away. So heat it from underneath! It worked out perfectly! But I still wanted some copper drops in some other, specific places so I used a Versamark pen. I worried that they might look too perfect but they blended in well.

I hope you can join us over at the C4C blog this week. We also have a sad announcement over there about a team member who passed away. So sad.

Rebecca

Cards

Swing High, Swing Free

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When you were a kid, did you love swinging? I know I did! I was able to swing higher than any other kid in my school in grades 5 and 6, my favourite activity at lunch! Did you ever have a tree swing? That would have been the best thing ever but alas, we didn’t have a tree large enough with an overhanging branch.

c4c 18 tree girl swing

At Crazy4Challenges this week, our theme was to create a project with a tree. The obvious move is to make something holiday. But as you know if you’ve been here a while, I don’t celebrate any holidays. So I went in search of something cool to use for my card. This summer (spring?) Hero Arts released a tree kit. I love the awesome frame dies they’ve included lately that almost fill a 4.25×5.5″ card base. Amazingly, I think I only used the kit twice since I got it! So it felt good to get some more use out of it for this card. I always feel guilty if a kit arrives and I don’t make at least 4 or 5 cards right away. Do any of you feel that way?

c4c 18 tree girl swing2.jpg

The background was watercoloured with a few Daniel Smith watercolours. They are amazing for their depth of colour and I adore the ones with real gemstone pigment and the ones with sparkle, I think they are called Duochrome. Most of the time, I use cold press, aka mid textured watercolour paper but when I’m making a background, especially one with minimal stamping, I like to use rough paper, aka very textured paper. (Hot press is very smooth, like it’s been ironed so that a way to help you remember hot vs cold pressed. If you use a cold iron, you’d have far more texture in your clothing than with a hot iron right?)

The sentiment was hard for me to choose. I find when I make cards with basic sentiments, I use them up from my stash or sell them far sooner than the others. But this one might be perfect for someone from More Love Letters so I used it anyway.It wouldn’t surprise me if you are going to make a tag or card with a tree in the coming week so don’t forget to link it up at C4C!

Enjoy, Rebecca

 

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Lighthouse on the Coast

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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!

c4c 18 AI lighthouse hike

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.

c4c 18 AI lighthouse hike2

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

 

Cards

One Layer Prima Princess

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This week at Crazy 4 Challenges, we were asked to make a one-layer card. This is something I almost never do so it was a true challenge for me. But this huge Prima Princess image which was amazing to colour helped immensely.

c4c 18 one layer prima princess

I deliberately stamped her off to the side because I wanted to add a sentiment to the side. But after colouring her for 3 days, I decided I might like to frame her so I decided to not add a sentiment, card base or any embellishments for now. Which technically means it isn’t a card. But after working on it for three days, no way was a going to make something else for this challenge!

 

c4c 18 one layer prima princess2

I stamped her in Antique Linen Distress ink then used my professional watercolours (a variety of brands) to paint her. I did also add some Prismacolour Premier and Verithin pencils to add some depth to her hair and to the deep greens between the flowers and leaves. Oh, and a fine-tipped black Copic Multi-liner for her eye lashes. I obviously need a finer one because she looks like she is rocking some serious falsies! Not quite what I had in mind!

This is the perfect challenge for a busy time of year. So keep it simple and make an awesome one-layer card. Be sure to pop on over to the blog to link up your creation!

Enjoy, Rebecca

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Shaped Cards for Crazy 4 Challenges

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For my second week hosting over at Crazy 4 Challenges, I decided we should make shaped cards. Anything other than a plain circle, rectangle or square. I had lots of ideas but then I realized I’d already made this card that I loved!

c4c 18 scalloped card shape challenge

When I made it, I was experimenting with some new supplies. The Rebecca Lace background from Simon Says Stamp and some gorgeous new Daniel Smith paints. If you like to watercolour, you MUST get yourself some professional paints, just a few at a time, when they are on sale. Preferably Daniel Smith ones. They truly are amazing! I also finally got myself a few Silver Brush watercolour brushes. They are soooo much better than the ones I’d been using. I had a variety of brushes from value lines from Curry’s to expensive ones from Michaels (coupon baby!) and even some from the dollar store. I’ve always wondered how someone could paint something then come back to the first part and add pigment when in my world, that paint would already be dry! Well, it’s because Silver Brushes hold an enormous amount of water! Oh, now I get it! That’s how their paint is still wet! Such a revelation!

The colours I used here were Amythyst Genuine, yes, the actual gemstone is used to make the paint, Duochrome Oceanic which is an aqua with gold shimmer in it, Rhodonite Genuine, Bronzite Genuine, Prussian Green and Cobalt Teal Blue. Most of these are shimmery which looks so amazing with the platinum embossing powder I used to emboss the lace image. I used multiple layers of the same powder to colour my Thinking of You die cut. The stamp is actually square but I decided I preferred it trimmed into a scalloped circle.

I hope you have some awesome ideas for shaped cards. If you join us over at the C4C blog, don’t forget to come back here and leave me a comment so you are entered in my giveaway!

Enjoy, Rebecca

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Freesia Sympathy Card for The Shabby Tea Room

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Once again I used the colour combo from this week’s The Shabby Tea Room sketch. There’s ivory, white, black and the little tidbits of purple on top of the hat.

freesia purple sympathy

I recently bought this freesia stamp set and coloured it with the no-line colouring technique. I used a very light green Memento ink so it wouldn’t show once I finished. Then I watercoloured it with my Kuretake watercolour set. Those colours are amazing! I also have the Derwent Inktense Pencils and honestly, I am not a huge fan of them. Save your money for the Kuretake!

ca tstr 262

Our sponsor this week is Paper Sweeties! The owner is also the owner of The Shabby Tea Room so I’m sure she would love it if you checked out her little store. She has great stamps, dies and embellies. I got the sweet little flower sequins and the seam binding from Paper Sweeties.  So head on over to the challenge blog or the store to see what is on offer!

I’m also entering this in the Winnie & Walter watercolour challenge.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: freesia-Altenew, sentiment-SSS
Ink: archival black-Ranger, pea sprout-Memento
Paper: Windsor & Newton watercolour paper, vanilla, eggplant CS-SU!, DP-Echo Park
Accessories: sequins, seam binding-Paper Sweeties, foam dots-The Sticky Stuff Store, Kuretake watercolour

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Happy (Belated) World Card Making Day!

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w&w wcmd logo

Yeah, another WCMD! I found a few challenges to play so here’s what I came up with.

hello heart

This one is for the Winnie and Walter watercolour challenge. I had fun using my new Kuretake watercolours and the latest Simon Says Stamp card kit. The colours are more vibrant IRL, I don’t know what is with some cards and how they photograph!

I hope you had fun working on your WCMD projects!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: SSS October kit I See You
Ink: versamark, archival black-ranger
Paper: W&N watercolour paper, vanilla CS-SSS kit, My mind’s Eye paper and journaling card
Accessories: embroidery floss, hello die-kit, gold twine, EP-SU!, Kuratake watercolours

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Watercolour Smooshing for Make It Monday

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rainbow smoosh

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

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Runway Inspired Card with Smooshing

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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.

rose gold love this card

I started with a 4×5.5” 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.

oscar

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

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Ombre Sympathy Card

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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.

die cut sympathy

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