Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Water Stencil Overlay

Good Morning! 

You have to love techniques that are simple to do yet give you a lot of bang for your buck. This is one of those. I love using distress inks especially with their reactions with water. You can do so many fun things with them. 

It's been awhile since I've used this technique, but when I saw Jennifer McGuire's blog yesterday I knew I wanted to pull out my stencils and play...so I did.

Here's my take on it.


If you haven't played with distress inks you are missing out! There are a million tutorials and videos out there showing how they work. They blend so beautifully. Here are three colors blended together for an ombre look. 


For my first card I chose this BIG dot stencil from Simon Says Stamp. I love it and haven't played with it yet. Just lay it over the top of your card add painter's tape or wash tape to hold it in place.


Wet a paper towel. Make sure you wring it out really well so it doesn't leak under your stencil. You want it damp but not really wet. Lay it over the top of your stencil and press into the negative space.


Wa la! Doesn't it look cool? I never get tired of seeing how it reacts with water. I used my heat tool to try it. I also laid a book on it to flatten out any warping from the water treatment.


Here is another look at the finished card. I cut out the dot background using one of my new favorite Avery Elle dies. I saved the frame for the second card. I love the look of the dots running along the edge. The bird stamp is from Hero Arts.


Below is a collage of the other card. Notice that because of the details on this stencil, I dabbed the paper towel into the corners rather than laying it over the entire stencil. This allowed a more precise reaction.



I finished up the card with some vellum, using the new Avery Elle stencil set once again. I heat embossed the greeting in Liquid Platinum and scattered some matching hearts around the card. Again, notice the frame from cutting out the first card is glued around the edge of this card but I turned it upside down to alternate the color pattern.


Hope everyone is having a great summer.

Happy Stamping!!










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Saturday, May 10, 2014

Technique Play - Watercolor for Card Makers Part 2

Hello to everyone!! Two days in a row…hang on to your seat belts! I'm having so much fun watercoloring this week. In some ways this class is going by to fast and in other ways not fast enough for the rate I want to devour all of these new techniques. 

This card was so fun and easy to make. I just heat embossed this beautiful poppy stamp from Penny Black and then colored it in with my favorite watercolors from Winsor and Newton. I'm seriously addicted to how vibrant and beautiful these colors are. 


I'm learning the importance of using good watercolor paper. It really makes a huge difference.

The shading on the flowers is so easy to do. The more water, the lighter the color and the less water the deeper the color. Just like coloring with markers or colored pencils, I start light and than add in darker color as I go. Embossing the image helps the color to stay in the lines. 


I distressed the edges with a favorite little Tim Holtz gadget (linked below) and mounted the panel onto some Bazzil Candy Hearts Card Stock. I stamped the base with two colors of ink off set from each other using one of my favorite Impression Obsession background stamps (also linked below).

Here is a close up. Anyone want to go shopping for some flowers? I do. 


If you missed the previous post on other watercolor projects I've been working on from onlinecardclasses.com you can click here. 



Hope you are all having a wonderful and sunny spring. Happy Stamping!!



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Friday, May 9, 2014

Technique Play - Watercolor for Card Makers Part One


Wow! I am finally taking the time to post on my blog. It's been a wild and crazy spring at our house. In February I started taking a class to get my license to operate short wave radio. It was a lot harder then it seemed but I passed my test two weeks ago, I've received my call sign… KG7LET (in case you are as strange as I am and you want to know), and I'm currently shopping for a radio. That being said, I have a little more time to document my crafting fun. 

Currently, I am completely enamored with the new Watercolor for Card Makers class that is happening right now on onlinecardclasses.com. I've taken most of the classes they offer but this is by FAR my favorite class I've ever signed up for. It seems from others that I am not alone in this sentiment either. If you haven't signed up, it's not to late. 

Here are a couple of cards I've been working on for my "homework" this week. We are learning different ways to create watercolor backgrounds. 


While there are many different mediums that work well with water, I'm quickly falling in love with my Windsor Newton watercolor box. I love how portable it is and the colors are gorgeous. Here's a couple photos of it.


This first card uses removable liquid masking over this fun Hero Arts butterfly. So easy to accomplish and I love the effect.


This second card uses heat embossing resist for the background. Again, these colors make me sing a little bit…ok a lot bit...
 



I'll be back with more watercoloring "homework" tomorrow. Hopefully…I'll see you in class!

Happy Stamping!!




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