Watercolor Greetings...

Today I have a couple clean-and-simple watercolor greeting cards to share with you. I came across a great pricing deal on some Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors, and couldn't wait to play with them. I wanted to experiment with these new colors using both a concentrated coloring and a watery, free-flowing coloring technique, so I pulled out a couple flower stamps to play with.

Instead of using a loose coloring technique all over, I played with coloring the images more exactly, and using the loose coloring in the background. These watercolors are fabulous for this...you need so little pigment on your brush to get the concentrated color that I imagine this set will last me for years!

First up, a little number using more "autumn-like" colors...

Originally I stamped the image with light brown ink to blend the outlines, but decided I wanted more contrast because I was using a blue-grey background, so I used a scribble technique over the outline with a black pen, and highlighted more with a white gel pen...

I reversed the usual order of stacked die cuts by placing a white cut under the black to add some brightness to the sentiment over the background...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Unity Stamp Co. "Lean on Me" (flowers);   Simon Says Stamp 'Happy & Smile" (sentiment)

Dies:   Simon Says Stamp "Sending"

Watercolors:   Yarka St. Petersburg             Black pearls:   Kaisercraft

Miscellaneous:   Uniball Signo white gel pen;   Zig Mangaka black pen

Next up, a stamp with brighter florals, combining a darker background with a lighter, splattered one...just for fun...

I added more image outlining as with the first card, and highlighted the stamens with a white gel pen...

I used the clear Wink of Stella pen a little differently on this card. I loaded some of the sparkly ink onto my craft sheet, then back onto a smaller watercolor brush, and flicked it over the entire card front. It makes the card sparkle, but in a very subtle way. Here's a better closeup-all those tiny white looking dots are the silvery sparkle from the Wink of Stella pen...

And this time, I used the bright white diecut sentiment above the black shadow diecut for stronger contrast to the portion of the background that was darker...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Penny Black "Jubilant"

Dies:   Simon Says Stamp "Small Hello"

Watercolors:   Yarka St. Petersburg             Pearls:   Recollections

Miscellaneous:   Kuretake Wink of Stella-Clear pen;   Zig Mangaka black pen;   Uniball Signo white gel pen

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Watercolor Potpourri...

Hello, again! My crafty mojo is apparently on a small vacation lately, and when that happens, I start to reorganize my work space, and play with making clean and simple watercolor cards (which is a lot more fun, and truthfully, more productive, than the reorganizing chore... ha).

So today I have a small collection of watercolor cards to share with you. A couple pieces were practice pieces that turned out perfect for a card front. I'm thinking I should tell myself that they're all "practice pieces" from now on. I seem to relax more when I view them that way, and when I relax more, they have a tendency to turn out just the way I want them to! You'd think I'd be wise to my own Jedi-mind-tricks at this age, but I admit it...I effectively psyche myself out a lot, even as an adult who should know better. :)

So on to the picture show. This first pair is made using a Unity stamp. For one, I drew a brick wall in the background, and after I painted the second one with no background, I liked it, too. So, both became all occasion cards with the same sentiment...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Unity Stamp Co. "Erica Girl" and "enjoy this day"

Color Mediums:   Grumbacher Transparent Watercolors;   Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

Miscellaneous:   white twine,  small colored gems,  "yellow" Stickles

This next card is a 4"x 6" note card that I painted after seeing a red poppy card painted with a similar treatment. Unfortunately, I didn't note the name of the creator of the card that gave me the idea, I just wrote "shade with brown" next to the words "large poppy stamp" in my little idea notepad. (I sometimes do this rather than pinning the inspiration piece so I don't copy it too closely.) So if you see this and it reminds you of a similar card, please let me know and I'll edit this paragraph to credit my inspiration artist!

It was a little difficult to photograph this purple to look the same as it does IRL, but hopefully you can see the raspberry highlights and deep purple shadows...

On this card, I double cut the "hello" die in black and white, heat embossed the "just saying" stamp with white powder onto black cardstock for contrast, then spot-glued them both to the twine bows using liquid glue...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Penny Black "divine" (poppy);    Altenew "Super Script" ("just saying")

Dies:   Simon Says Stamp "small hello"

Color mediums:   Sakura Koi watercolors;   Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

Miscellaneous:   twine,  clear sequins,  white embossing powder

This final pair of images were my small "practice pieces." I was playing around with coloring and shadows on penciled-in tables beneath the flower pots. I liked how they turned out, so I cut the pieces from my practice pad, and turned them into note cards...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Prima "Nature Garden" collection (purple);   Glitz Design "French Kiss" collection (brown);   My Minds Eye Lost & Found "Heirloom" collection (dot)

Stamps:   Penny Black "A Bunch" (jar);   Hero Arts "Things We Love" (single flower);   Simon Says Stamp "Friendship Messages" (hello);   

Altenew "Super Script" (just saying)

Color medium:   Sakura Koi watercolors          Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com            Pearls:   Recollections

And last but not least...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Glitz Design "Vintage Blue" collection (gold and blue);   Pink Paislee "Cottage Farms" collection (taupe print)

Stamps:   Penny Black "Flower Gallery" (irises);   Penny Black "A Bunch" (jar);   Simon Says Stamp "Friendship Messages" (sentiment)

Color Medium:   Sakura Koi watercolors          Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com          Pearls:   Kaisercraft and Recollections

Thanks so much for visiting today...I hope your week started with a smile!

Watercolor - Clean and Simple...

Happy Monday, everyone!

Lately I've been working on some projects that are detailed, and filled with techniques and embellishments. My mojo needed a bit of a reboot...it was tired. So I pulled out one of my floral stamps, and the watercolors, and made a card, start to finish, in 2 hours.

I can hear you now, saying to yourself, "that's fast?" Yes, for me, that's fast. I tend to start in one direction, then change to another..for me to design in my head, paint, and assemble in 2 hours is a major accomplishment!  :)

I did add a bit of "shabby" to the card with distressed edges, including, this time, the edges of the card base itself. But I kept the embellishments to a minimum, with a twine bow, a few purple sequins, and a couple lacy die cut corners...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Unity Stamp Co., "Imperfection is Beauty";   Simon Says Stamp "Summer Garden"

Die:   Spellbinders Lace Hearts           Watercolors:   Sakura Koi

Miscellaneous:   black hemp twine,  sequins,   Uni Posca white paint pen

Thanks so much for visiting today. I'll be back Wednesday with another project that's pretty much a total departure from my usual style.

Until then, I hope your week is starting with a smile!

Be...

It's watercolor day here in the Korner - so that means a short-and-sweet post. :)

Once again, I couldn't resist the temptation to play around with adding texture to the background, just for fun. This is a 4" x 6" card...

I love this quote, and after I stamped it to the paper, realized I had the perfect word die to cut, and just enough room left to place it above the sentiment...

I added just a bit of white doodling to the watercolored flowers...just for fun...

And beneath the flowers, some modeling paste speckles were stenciled on. To keep them from looking like snow, I colored over them lightly with a Marvy aqua-grey watercolor pen that blended with the background colors...

Supplies:

Image stamp:   Unity Stamp Co., "Poppy Background"

Sentiment stamp:   Unity Stamp Co., "Empowered Words"

Die:   Simon Says Stamp "be"            Stencil:   Tim Holtz Speckles

Miscellaneous:   Sakura Koi watercolors,  Uni Posca white paint pen,  modeling paste

Thanks for popping in for a visit today!

The Twinery - Stronger Than Anyone...

TGIF...Happy Friday! I'm back with another card made as August Guest Designer at The Twinery.

Today, I'm ending the week the way I started it - with a clean and simple post sharing a CAS watercolor card. I've used a stamp image & sentiment set from Unity Stamp Co, and accented it with several colorful twines from The Twinery...

Once the watercoloring was complete, I die cut a heart to the left, covered a piece of chipboard with "stripes" of twine to complement the colors used for the image, and adhered it behind the heart cutout.  (I used Red Shimmer, Maraschino Solid, Blue Shimmer, Denim Solid, Honeydew Stripe, and Honeydew Solid twines for the heart and tassel). It still wasn't quite enough for the "fully loaded" embellisher in me, so I took a cue from the tied bracelet on the girl's wrist in the image, made a small tassel with the same twines, and finished off the knot with a few bright gems for fun...

Supplies:

Twines:  The Twinery - Red Shimmer, Maraschino Solid, Blue Shimmer, Denim Solid, Honeydew Stripe, Honeydew Solid

Stamps:   Unity Stamp Co.,  "Stronger Than Anyone-Jessica Girl"

Die:   Xyron ShapeZ by Spellbinders / Heart

Gems:   Recollections           Watercolors:   Sakura Koi

Thanks so much for stopping in for a visit...I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

You Are Awesome...

Happy Monday! I'm starting the week with a short and sweet post sharing a clean and simple watercolor card (well, as close to clean and simple as I can get...LOL).

As soon as I saw this stamp, I knew I had to have it. I was so taken with the long, vertical sentiment - it opens up so many design options. For this 4" x 6" card, I used the flower stamp that came with the sentiment, and added a different stamp, and die cut, for the accompanying sentiment at the bottom. I realize I might have jeopardized the true "CAS" label with the tear-outs and cheesecloth inserts, but I fell to the temptation once again...

Here are a few closeup shots around the front...

Supplies:

Image stamp:   Unity Stamp Co., "Bloom & Simplify"

Sentiment stamps:   Unity Stamp Co./"Bloom & Simplify";   Winnie & Walter/"The Big, The Bold, and You"

Sentiment die:   Simon Says Stamp ("you")

Stencil:    Tim Holtz Speckles            Gems:   Kaisercraft

Miscellaneous:   Sakura Koi watercolors, Uni Posca white pen, Studio 490 Translucent Embossing Paste, 

cheesecloth, drywall tape

Thanks so much for visiting today...I hope your week is starting with a smile!

Thanks a Bunch...

As I mentioned Monday, today I'm switching gears and going from shabby mixed media to a clean-and-simple watercolor card.

So without a lot of chatter, here it is:

The sentiment is stamped onto a piece of chipboard that's been distressed with gesso, paints, crackle medium and scraping the edge of the scissors blade along the edges of the strip...

A closeup of the watercolored tulip stamp...

The twines are small pieces that I received in online orders, holding little tissue wrapped packs closed (do you save all those little packing supplies like I do? LOL)...

Supplies:

Stamps-image and sentiment:   Penny Black "a bunch"

Embossing folder:   Cuttlebug Honey Comb edge embossing folder

Silver pearls:   Queen & Co.           Watercolors:    Sakura Koi

Miscellaneous:   twines, washi tapes

Thanks for stopping in for a visit today...I hope your week is going well!

One Technique...Three Looks...

Happy "Hump Day!" Today I have three cards to share that all are made using the same technique...another one I learned during the Watercolor for Cardmakers online class.  It's a pretty simple technique using stencils in a different way, and definitely one that's fun to experiment with!

They're all Clean and Simple, and two have a bit of Shabby Chic added to the mix. With this first one, I was inspired by a beautiful photo I saw of a morning sunrise, and that gave me the idea to use the particular stencil I used. So I loaded watercolors in a couple different purples, a bright golden orange, and a deep orange, and here's what I got...

I added a small heart, machine "stitched" it without thread around the edges, and used a combo of stamping and a die cut for the sentiment. Here are some close-ups...

I was happy to see the way the watercolors blended as they dried, and the design of the stencil was perfect for the "sun rays" I was hoping to get. I followed the placement of some of the lines caused by the stencil to machine-stitch some lines to the bottom of the card front...

Supplies:

Sentiment stamp:   Winnie & Walter "The Big, The Bold, And You"

Dies:   Technique Tuesday "Say It-Fabulous";   Papertrey Ink "Limitless Layers-Heart Stitches"

Stencil:   Memory Box "Texture Brilliant"

Orange gemstone:   EK Success            Watercolors:  Sakura Koi

This next card uses a chevron stencil, turned on its side, and very *bright* watercolors. :)  I highlighted the straight lines of the chevron edges and center with machine stitching. The splatters are actually stamped...I didn't trust my splattering technique that day, and realized that I had an ink that matched the bright pink watercolor, so that's what I went with!

A couple close-ups...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Winnie & Walter "The Big, The Bold, and The Happy";   Stampin'Up! Gorgeous Grunge

Stencil:   Tim Holtz Chevron            Gems:   Kaisercraft

Watercolors:  Sakura Koi

The last card for today is actually the first one I made. It's very close to the card that was taught in the online class, and actually allowed me, for the first time, to see the difference in the different brands of watercolors. The watercolors I used for this card are a bit paler, softer, and leave a more "chalky" finished look than the other two cards...still pretty, but a different look that you may not be able to actually see in the photos...

Supplies:

Sentiment stamp:   Winnie & Walter "The Big, The Bold, and You"

Stencil:   Tim Holtz Chevron            Watercolors:  Loew Cornell

Miscellaneous:   silver sequins, white twine

Thanks for stopping by today. Tomorrow I'll be sharing a "fully loaded" mixed media and watercolor card. Until then, have a great day!