Water Color Play Day

Friday was a "play day" over at Watercolor for Card Makers, and I started out with one of the techniques shown by Mr. Tim Holtz, but then went off on a tangent...not a bad tangent .

The technique was mono printing. Taking various mini distress ink pads and inking up a stencil, then spritzing it with water and smooshing it into a piece of watercolor paper.  The open spaces should be highlighted.

I think I did not use enough ink on the rays stencil, so I did it again over the top.  Still not happy with the result, I sprayed the entire surface with water.  No image, but boy did I love the background of mustard seed and dried marigold I ended up getting, one can almost see the rays if you squint just right.  So on to plan B.

My second favorite class, was the Stencil class and I was itching to use some embossing paste again.  My panel was not 100% dry, so the white embossing paste picked up some color.  I used another TH Stencil, Bubbles for the dots,  just placed the embossing paste on opposite corner areas of the card and left it to dry... no really, I left it alone...no glitter, no heat gun.

I went on to try another technique, coloring on vellum. I stamped my image in black, then on the backside used derwernt inktense pencils to color the image.  I used a bit of water to spread it about, as my blender pen had dried up! Water gives vellum an interesting texture.  It was all warpy...but I was going to make this work.  I fussy cut the image and embraced the non flat structure of the sunflower.  I mounted it on to the front of my watercolor piece with clear foam and then added an edge punched strip and some gold thread and a feel better sentiment from the same Lawn Fawn stamp set as the flower. All was adhered to a card base to complete the card.

It was so much fun playing and I love where my piece ended up.  This one probably won't go into my notebook except as a photograph...it really needs to be mailed to someone who needs cheering up.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a play date!

Day 10 of Watercolor for Card Makers

My second post today.  More free hand paining...yikes.  Well there is one thing that I feel almost comfortable painting free hand and one thing only. A sunflower.  I have one on my craft room wall that I painted with acrylic paints years ago. Again this took a while just to paint, much less dry, mat and add a sentiment; but, it was a peaceful afternoon well spent listening to some soft rock and the light rain outside.

I had the sentiment in mind when I sat down to paint, it is from Simon Says Stamp Color and Sunshine stamp set.  So while normally I would have the "white space" above the flower...in a play on the sentiment, I inverted the image panel.  Simon Says Stamp Sunshine card stock is the perfect card base for this piece as well.

I so loved this class, I know part of it is the medium of the water colors. However, I have to say the class materials - Video (every single class day) were spectacular. So much talent in the group of instructors and guest designers. This class is so worth taking. The galleries and forums remain open to additions until May 22th. 



Thanks for stopping by.

Day 9 of Watercolor for card makers

Lesson's 9 and 10 the freehand watercoloring is the biggest and toughest hurdle for me.  It plays right into my horrid little I Can't draw mind set.  I also have an I Can't sing mindset (verified by anyone who has ever ridden in a car with me while I sang along to the music). I am not hard on myself, just realistic about my ability to freehand images. That being said and while I admit I really did not want to try the homework...I sucked it up and did it.


Kristina Werner's freehand packages did not seem terribly difficult...but oh my gosh it took me literally hours to finish this one. I don't like to draw...I know practice will make it better...remember my lack of patience? It is at war with that theory. I added a banner to enhance the party feel.

Next up, a splatter tree.  I do not know how Jennifer Rzasa got such a nicely round tree in her example...I feel like I splattered everything in sight.

These two are so out of my comfort zone...and there is one more day of this topic.  Yikes!  Actually I have to say this has been my most favorite of the Online Card Classes.  I have taken 9 or 10 over the past couple of years. I love that you have lifetime access to the class content, and I even put together binders of the lessons and my card samples. I do refer to them after the class is long over.

Thanks for stopping by!

WC4CM Days 7 and 8

Day 7...it was a tough one for me. Not sure why, but I struggled.  Though I can say that this morning my pieces don't look as  bad to me as they did last night, so I am posting them.

Day 8 was easier, I loved the using the stencil I had cut a while back using Simon Says Stamp's Viola die.

So on to the pictures

My two day 7 samples, I was unhappy with the foliage, but after they dried, it all kinda blended in and its fine. I guess it is true, you have to wait for it to dry before making any drastic decisions like tossing wet paper into the round bin.  I will have to say this technique is an exercise in patience, which I do not possess in any reasonable quantity.

This one was fun, I loved how it turned out.   All three pieces are small, 3x3 on the actual watercolor piece. They are going into my notebook with the daily lessons. Though I can definitely see this one being replicated.

Thanks for stopping by, only 2 more days of class then on to the mountain of other cards on my to do list.

Two more Day 5 and 6

Here are my two latest homework pieces for the amazing class over at Online Card Classes.

Onlinecardclasses.com

 Both for the topic of water coloring stamped images. One is a background piece selectively embossed then colored in a fading fashion and the other is an image which used Luminart Shimmer Mist as my "water".

I was kinda stuck for a background stamp for the Shari Carroll inspired card, then tried this stamp from Hero Arts, it is called Magical Background.  I think those swirls when colored almost look like simplistic roses.  I am quite happy with how it turned out.

Then next image was based on Jennifer McGuire's white embossed floral image and circle die cut. I am not sure I like the free hand cut of the circle, next time I think I would lay down the circle die, mark where it intersects with the flower and leaves, then cut in on those and pull them over the top of the circle and die cut the rest of it, so that is is better proportioned.  Or maybe even a different shape, a square maybe...with that hydrangea's big blooming head, some straight lines might be good.

Still one week to go in this class which is by far one of my most favorites...this one and the stenciling class, hard to decide which one gets top billing...for now it is a tie.  Thanks for stopping by!

Continuing Watercolor Journey

onlinecardclass.com

I am enjoying this class so much, and today I probably made one of my all time favorite cards.  I have two to share, one was from day 4 - watercolor with stamps.  I really need another watercolor type stamp image to get a better product, but this will do.  I wanted to bring out that yellow center, but I am thinking it would look better without the string. Next time...

Today, day 5 I watched an amazing artist at work with watercolors and a stamp. Swarup Murthy made such an incredible water color card using a stamp, watercolors(cake) and some distress ink pads. It was amazing to watch her work and for her images to take shape.  Her blog is here.

It was way out of  my comfort zone, but I had to give it a shot, and eventually I surprised myself. 

Finding the right image took some time...I tossed away 4 other attempts before actually going with this one and finishing it all the way. And it took time...I am so impatient, that I am surprised I stuck it out. I used crayola (cake type) watercolors, and some tube type watercolors to get a nice deep yellow, and some distress ink for the stamp image and sentiment. I will have to revisit this technique. I love this little bit of a card about 3.75 by 3.75 inches.  The photograph does it no justice at all.

The class still runs another week.  If you have ever thought about watercolors and moved mentally on because you do not feel "artistic" think again.  I am in awe of people who can see something in their head and actually translate it to paper.  I do not have that talent at all.  This class makes me feel "artistic".

Thanks for stopping by.

More Watercoloring

I am still loving this class, and here are my pieces for day 2 - more backgrounds and day 3 stamping with watercolors.

The no line background created with color pencils was amazing to watch.  I think I got the effect down. I did go a bit crazy with the gold thread! The color wash is very subtle, hard to photograph, pinks fading to pale yellow on the top and bottom. The piece is matted on gold edged card.

I had so much trouble with this next technique, this is attempt #5...I love the look Jennifer McGuire was able to capture, and I got close, but in doing so I tossed a lot of attempts.  I don't even want to save them for die cuts.

Next up was some stamping to mimic water coloring in Day 3. I may have to give this one another go, but I do so love the colors in this one. I painted in the stems and leaves... This was part of a two step stamp set and the flowers were put on individually and in different places than the stem stamp hence the need for the hand drawn stems.

I just have to say Kristina Werner is amazing, her sample was so beautiful, I want to buy the stamp set...but could I pull it off???? That's the big question.  Will have to mull that one over for a while.  Have a wonderful day.  I am going to be cleaning windows today, it is finally warm and dry enough to get it done. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercolor Class

I am not sure why I hemmed and hawed about taking this class at Online Card Classes. I have dabbled in a few water color cards and enjoyed them, but was having a hard time mustering enthusiasm for the class. I kept hoping to win a seat to make my decision easier.

Late last night or was it early this morning, I took a look at my watercolor supplies...trying to decide if I wanted to take the class.  Obviously I had enough "stuff" to probably be able to mimic most of the techniques.

So I decided to sign up.   As I looked around the site, wow...preclass videos...and suggestions to actually play with your "stuff" to get used to how it works.  GENIOUS SUGGESTION LADIES!  So at around 2 am I started to play with my stuff, I made swatch cards and a plaid background.  I did learn an important lesson...the watercolor paper should be of a better quality. I had some cheap stuff I had cut up for practice and used it for the swatches, and I could really tell when I used my distress markers.  It did not blend well at all. So for about 2 hours I played while most people were tucked in and sleeping away. My swatches:

I went to bed at least curious and less ambivalent than I had been about this class.  This morning I had an online poker tournament to host and some housework to do before being able to attend class.

I am no longer ambivalent, I am IN TOTAL LOVE with this class.  I love the videos, and even more I loved playing and making my cards.  This was not HOMEWORK, this was so much fun.  My cards are my first efforts, and one of them could definitely use some refinement, but they go into my binder and are for me.

I can promise however, that watercoloring will definitely be a go to for card making.  My favorite of the three is the small thank you card with the oversized sentiment.  I will definitely be making card sets similar to this for gifts!

And finally, here are my cards from today's lessons.  I pretty much cased the designs, and used what I had on hand for stamps and dies.

watercolor with stencil laid upon it

 I wanted to mimic the diagonal strips in the card base, and embossed the tag. I probably would leave that off next time and get a stencil with smaller openings so the pattern will pool better.

watercolor with large sentiment die cut

 I so love this one.  The class card had the watercoloring on a panel which was placed on a card base along with its already white border.  I was a little uneven and messy with my color placement, so I die cut the panel with a deckle edged spellbinders rectangle. This is a small card only about 4 x 2.75 inches.

watercolor and resist embossing

Vellum is not forgiving at all. I was trying for a Beatles vibe here.

I used an 8 pack of crayola watercolors for the first and third cards, distress inks for the middle card. Embossing powders were from Hero Arts, Versamark Ink.  My blue ink on the first card is Hero Arts Neon Blue, the gold is Delicata. The thank you die is Hero Arts, the love die is Simon Says stamp. The heart brads are from Peebles. Embossing folder is from Sizzix and the twine I found at Target years ago.

Thanks for stopping by and getting through this long post.