Faux Watercolor Cards

 

Inspired by Lindsay Weirich's YouTube: Faux Watercolor Stamped Cards I made these 5 cards. I really like the look Lindsay created...

  * her cool "book" background stamp

  * how she over-stamped that with purple swirls

  * and her dry embossed layers between the background and her faux watercolor flower layer.

 

I substituted a Michael Strong stamp, Cloissone Mosaic Frame for Lindsay's book background stamp. Used Tim Holtz Oxide ink pads:

Wild Honey on the top third 

Peacock Feathers on the bottom third

Shabby Shutters on the middle third, holding the inkpad at an angle, trying not to contaminate that pad with ink from the top and bottom thirds.

I placed the cardstock layer on top of the inked stamp and then added a piece of scrap paper over that and pressed with my hand. However, I decided to get out the brayer for better pressure.  

I had a lot of ink still left on the stamp, so I spritzed it and created a second layer as Lindsay demonstrated. Was able to make 2 cards!

Lindsay used a large swirly background stamp and purple ink to stamp over the books layer. I used a swirly stamp from an old Stampin' Up set called In The Sky. Since mine was a small stamp, I stamped multiple times with Stampin' Up! Orchid Opulence ink.

I created dry embossed layers using a script and then a musical notes embossing folder. Tore the edges to create smaller layers as Lindsay demonstrated. 

I added Stampin' Up!'s Going Grey ink on the musical notes-direct to paper from the inkpad. 

For the script, I used blending brushes to apply Gathered Twigs Oxide to color it.

I used Tombow and Stampin' Up markers to ink a flower stamp from Gina K's Wild Blossoms. Spritzed it with water and then stamped it. I added some Wild Honey Oxide to the edges of the paper with an aqua brush as Lindsay showed, using a dab of water on the top of the inkpad as a pallete.  I also flicked some of this wild honey ink-putting my little layer in a small plastic waste basket to contain the splashes!

I wrote Happy Birthday Debi with a Faber-Castell PITT pen Small point on white cardstock. Cut into a banner and added purple to the edges using the aqua brush and also flicked some purple onto it.

The Variations on this card:

Used Stampin Up Going Grey with blending brush on the musical notes layer.

Used Gathered Twigs Oxide, direct to paper on the script layer.

For the bottom layer, on white cardstock measuring 4 x 5-1/4 inches, I took a Distress Antique Linen inkpad and swiped it to add a bit of color.  Then dry embossed it with a Park Lane Leaves embossing folder.  Adhered it to the card.

I stamped Gina K's Rose Lace rubber background stamp with Gina K's Jelly Bean Green ink. Cut a strip: 1-1/2 x 5-1/4 inches and adhered it to the embossed layer. 

On the smaller layer, 2-1/2 x scant 3-1/2 inches I stamped the flower and leaves from Stampin Up's What I Love using Gina K's Red Velvet and ink and Jelly Bean Green Inks.

The Happy Birthday stamp is from Stampendous and stamped with Gina K's Red Velvet ink. I cut the tail of the banner freehand.

I used the Gina K's Rose Lace background rubber stamp for this and the next card for the entire background. I am so glad to finally use this background stamp. My dear friend, Mona gifted it to me a year and a half ago! Thanks so much Mona! 

I used Gina K's postage stamp die from Master Layouts 4. Used a  flower stamp from Gina K's Wild Blossom, coloring with markers and then spritzing with water as before. Also added color to the edges with the aqua painter and Wild Honey Oxide ink and water.

I used blending brushes to add color to the script layer: Wild Honey Oxide, Jelly Bean Green and Red Velvet the last 2 from Gina K.

Similar here except I used Distress Antique Linen and Gina K Bubblegum Pink with blending brushes on the dry embossed layers. 

The flower is from Gina K's Friendly Silhouettes. Used Tombow markers to color the stamp and spritzed with a little water. Outlined the layer with Wild Honey Oxide and also flicked some on the layer with the aqua brush.

Lately to adhere my layers on cards, I have been using a few strips of double stick tape along with Sizzix Quick Drying Express Glue. When I want a little dimension, I use foam tape.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Peace and all good!

Halloween Cards 2020

Here are some cards I made using the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Snarky Cat Halloween set and a few other stamps. I was inspired by creative artists Keisha Charles and Tami Bastiaans who share their ideas online! Thank you very much!

Just had to try a card like Keisha Charles snarky cat cards on her The PaperMint blog. I used blending brushes to add distress inks seedless preserves and twisted citron to the panel. Then used hickory smoke with stencils from my stash. The images were stamped with black soot.

The backgrounds for these cards were made with wrinkle free distress using distress stormy sky, peeled paint inks and a bit of Dylusions Sunshine (yellow)-unscrewed the sprayer and tapped it on the craft sheet between the blue and green colors. I avoid spraying those things...I am very messy! 

Stamped the stampscapes tree trunks with distress ground espresso, the birds (Lost and Found, a Tim Holtz acrylic set) with distress black soot. The cat was stamped in black soot as well as the sentiment. Used yellow and green colored pencils for the eyes.

I was inspired by Tami Bastiaans Plays Well With Paper card for this card. My card is so simple compard with Tami's. I like how Tami positioned the cat and  used the sentiment. I fussy cut the cat and pumpkin and attached them with foam tape.

Candy corn stamp from Hero Arts.

Inks: distress carved pumpkin, black soot, gathered twigs, peeled paint.

Another card inspired by Tami Bastiaans. My card is very plain compared to Tami's. I love the way Tami created that swirly sky! I used watercolor paper for this. 

I did not have the moon stamp, so I traced a circle and added some dots and circles with fine point black PITT pen by Faber-Castell. Trees from Stampscapes and Stampin' Up!. All stamping with Versafine onyx black, letting it dry thoroughly. I used distress ink with an aqua brush/water brush to "paint" the background like Tami did. 

Distress inks: scattered straw, tumbled glass, broken china, faded jeans, peeled paint.

Used colored pencils to add color to the tree trunks, cat body and eyes.

A HUGE thank you to Keisha Charles and Tami Bastiaans for sharing their creative talent! I had a lot of fun playing with these cards. 

...and THANK YOU for visiting me here! Hope you all stay safe from Covid!

Snow Blanket Card

This Penny Black Snow Blanket stamp arrived in today's mail. I have been wanting to try a scene stamp using my Misti. One of the disk magnets broke. But I was able to use the Misti without a problem.  I do have a bar magnet ordered. 

I copied the sample on the package of this stamp. It was easy using the Misti, adding each color separately with either the markers or the distress inkpad.

The stamp was huge! About 5-7/8 inches wide by 4-3/4 inches high. 

I was using a 5-1/4 x 4 inch piece of cardstock so I added a piece of computer paper underneath my cardstock so it wouldn't mess up the bottom of the Misti.

I pulled out all my markers to find the colors I wanted. Here is what I used...

Fence: Zig clean color real brush 062-Dark Brown

Bottom part of tree: Ranger distress marker-vintage photo

I decided to stamp the far edges of the branches next-Distress ink pad-rusty hinge

Then I went in the center part of the tree branches-Tombow 925-Orange

Pine trees-Tombow 098 kind of an olive green. On panel 2, 3, and 4, added strokes of Tombow 177-a darker green. This green was similar to SU's old olive

Then for the shadows on the fence, below the fence and on the snow on the horizon I used Tombow 526 blue dabbed onto the craft sheet and picked up with my water brush/aqua painter.

It was very fun and relaxing to play with this scene card. I can add a sentiment on  separate layer for a special occasion card. Or, just leave it as is for a hello card.

Hope you are staying safe from Covid! Thanks so much for stopping by to visit!

Drawing with Grace, November 18, 2019

My sister Grace, and I spent some time together on Monday testing out art supplies.

Grace made this drawing of the Farnsworth House using colored pencils.

I revisited a stampfest project that Lynette and I worked on in October inspired by Heather Telford's  Lake Wanaka mountain scene card. This time I used Stampin Up watercolor pencils with an aqua painter/waterbrush.

Grace made these cool origami paper cranes with some printed papers that she gave me. When you hold onto the bottom, you can pull the tail to make the wings flutter.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

Drawing a Little Beach Scene

I really like the Waterfront cards Lynette and I made at our Waterfront stampfest in June. Since I don't have the Waterfront set (by Stampin' Up!) I decided to try to sketch the scene. Used watercolor pencils by Stampin' Up, a set of 24. My dear neighbor Mary very generously gave this set to me. I really like the variety of colors.

In this card, I was hesitant to use an aqua painter after drawing it. I was afraid of messing up the drawing. But you can see another card below where I decided to give that a try.

I do not have a waves embossing folder like Lynette's so I used my "We are memory Keepers" TIDE folder. Also added crochet thread from my stash.

This card will be an anniversary card. It kind of reminds me of Hawaii. As you can see, it's pretty much the same as the card above. However, this time I used an aqua painter/water brush on the watercolor pencil drawing. The color became darker and more vibrant. I like it better this way. What do you think?

Used Hero Arts Stamp & Cut - Ribbon Messages for the sentiment in Versafine Black Onyx ink.

Used watercolor paper scraps from my stash.

Thank you for visiting! Wishing you a day filled with special JOY!

June 6 Waterfront Stampfest at Lynette's

Wednesday, June 6th was a fun and relaxing day!

Lynette and I had a great time playing with her new stamp set, Waterfront from Stampin' Up!

We found a lot of inspiration online!

Ashley Fifer of Stamped AF inspired this card.
Ashley has a wonderful Video tutorial there.
Using the aqua painter/water brush here and on all the cards,
gave the stamped images a watercolor look.
We used watercolor paper from Lynette's stash for all the cards shown today.
Used embossing folder stamping technique on the fronts of these two cards
by adding distress frayed burlap ink directly onto the sizzix embossing folder.
I used woodgrain and Lynette used wood planks.
Our panel was stamped with Stampin Up!'s Waterfront stamp
using distress pumice stone for the mountains
and SU so saffron for the sun.
The trees were made with SU wild wasabi and limeade.

Sage Kimball of Stampin Madly inspired this card.
Used SU almost amethyst for mountains,
distress tea dye and vintage photo for the ground,
distress broken china for the river,
SU soft sky for the sky,
distress forest moss for the trees.

Amy Koenders of Stamp with Amy K inspired this beach scene using Waterfront.
Used Fiskars dry embossing plate "Ocean" (waves) to emboss the blue layer.
The circle is a Stampin Up! Stitched Shapes Framelits die.
Used distress tea dye for the sand,
distress broken china for the water
Su so saffron for the sun (and dots on my card)
SU lucky limeade for the palm fronds
SU close to cocoa for the tree trunks.
Added some twine over the ocean waves layer.

Our inspiration for this card came from Pinterest
The card there made by Brook Beach, but the link did not go to her blog
and I was unable to find her webpage.
We changed the card using a kraft paper and a cuttlebug happy birthday embossing folder
for our 1st layer.
Lynette cut the squares with her SU Stitched Shapes framelits die.
Used distress vintage photo for the mountains,
distress peeled paint for the grass/plains
distress forest moss for the trees.
Stamped the Printworks "happy birthday" sentiment in forest moss.

We both thought the SUJ Waterfront set was so versatile and we thank
Ashley Fifer of Stamped AF
Sage Kimball of Stampin Madly
Amy Koenders of Stamp with Amy K
and
Brook Beach
sharing their cards and the process and materials they used!
Lynette and I had a ball making these cards.

THanks so much for visiting!

Aqua Painter Birthday Beach Cards

Inspiration for these two birthday cards was from Julie Gearinger's blog.

I used the same "faux" watercolor paper as on Thursday's post.

For the aqua painting:

Place distress inkpads directly on craft sheet.

Pick up color with aqua painter.

Use distress abandoned coral for the sky-mask the sun with a circle first,
 mermaid lagoon for water,

mowed lawn and frayed burlap for palm trees.

Trees were cut from Georgia Pacific 110 lb index paper awhile ago
with Lynette's Cutttlebug At The Beach die and embossing set.

Note to self: watercolor paper works better when aqua painting.

I ran the palm trees through my corrugation tool after the ink dried

because I had forgotten to emboss them.

Make "sand" from torn cream colored paper.

Stamp multiple times and with just parts of the Stampscapes Tonal Applicator 084E
with SU creamy caramel ink.

Stamp Michael Strong's mini creatures on scrap cardstock
gecko in mowed lawn
shell in scattered straw
starfish in wild honey.
Fussy cut, sponge color on edges and adhere with dimensional foam.
The blue card base is from my stash.

Using a kraft card base, I used a Woodgrain embossed layer in white
which was sponged in creamy caramel.
then a nestabilities die cut oval from my "faux" watercolor paper.

Aqua paint the coral and lagoon as the above card
but add aqua painted "sand" with Stampin' UP!'s creamy caramel.
Use Stampscapes Tonal Applicator stamp in Stampin' Up!'s creamy caramel ink

Stamp over the sand area multiple times
using parts of the toner stamp.
Stampscapes birds stamped in Versafine Black Onyx.
The Hero Arts birthday sentiment stamped in mermaid lagoon
on a separate layer that's sponged in lagoon.

Card Captain Day 4

Happy Technique Thursday! to my Enjoy Michael Strong Stamps Friends!

 These my little "techniques" today:
* making my own "tag reinforcement"

 * using an aqua painter to color stamped images 

* making my own "hill stencil".

 Here you see a close up of my "tag reinforcement".

I cut my own tag 7 x 3-1/2 inches from white cardstock.

Trimmed the top corners as shown and used a 1/4 inch punch for the center hole.

I added a home made "reinforcement" by punching a 1/4 inch circle
into a separate piece of cardstock. 

Then I punched a 5/8 inch circle around that.
Glued my reinforcement onto my tag.

To make a "hill" stencil simply cut a curvy line on cardstock scraps-Super simple.
Using this, I sponged mowed lawn ink to create my hills.

Coloring with Aqua Painter...
For the Vase, I stamped it on a separate piece of paper using Versafine black onyx ink.

When it was thoroughly dry, I used an aqua painter and distress inks to color it.
Just dab your inkpad to a craft sheet or similar surface.
Dip your aqua painter brush into the ink to pick up color.
Have scrap paper handy to test out the color's intensity.
Use a paper towel or old rag to pinch the brush and remove color
before going on to the next color.
I fussy cut the vase and attached it with foam tape.
I used the aqua painter to color the  the dragonfly and the cat.

To finish off my tag, I added assorted fibers from my stash!
Thanks, Lynette for sharing your fibers with me!

STAMPS-Michael Strong, Stampers Anonymous

INKS

Distress-mowed lawn, scattered straw, tumbled glass,
rusty hinge, seedless preserves, spiced marmalade, tea dye