Hello there, I hope you’re having a great weekend!
Today I’m sharing the second card that I made as the guest designer for the latest Simon Says Stamp Flikr Challenge. Be sure to check out the challenge post to learn how to participate in this week’s challenge which is “Favorite Technique.” This card features the Circle Doodles Background stamp and the Big Thanks dies from Simon Says Stamp. Continue reading “Thanks – Take Two – Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #102”
Hello there! I hope you’re weekend has gotten off to a good start!
Today’s card uses the Butterfly Beauty stamp set from Concord and 9th. I wanted to use the detailed butterfly stamp to try a version of no-line coloring, where I wanted the outline of the butterfly to fade away but the detail of the butterfly to remain. I wasn’t entirely successful, but it was a fun experiment and I have an idea of what to try next time!
I started by die-cutting the card front out of Ranger watercolor paper using the largest of the Wonky Stitched Rectangle die set from My Favorite Things. Ranger watercolor paper is a nice bright white compared to other watercolor papers, and it has a rough and a smooth side (which is not uncommon, in my limited experience). I used the smooth side for my stamping and painting.
Then, I stamped the butterfly image in Antique Linen Distress Ink. This ink color is very light and since Distress Inks react with water, I knew that the stamping could be made to fade as I added water and watercolor.
I used painter’s tape to tape down the card front to my desk and then I used an 8 round brush to apply clean clear water over the butterfly, being careful to follow the outline, and avoiding the body and antennae. I chose Golden Yellow and Chrome Orange from Peerless Watercolors and laid down a layer of the Golden yellow with a 8 round brush. Then I added Chrome Orange around the edges, blending inwards. Peerless watercolors are very easy to blend and I find that I could go over areas that had dried a bit without pulling up the color. The result is a relatively smooth layer of color. Using a 1 round brush, I added more Chrome orange to the edges for some color variation. Finally, I used the same brush to add Pearl Gray to the body and antennae.
I then decided that I wanted to add some splatter to the card, but not to the butterfly, so I created a mask by stamping the butterfly onto a piece of Judikins Eclipse Tape* that I stuck on to a piece of scrap cardstock. Then I cut out the butterfly, peeled-off the cardstock, and masked off my watercolor butterfly.
I smooshed a bit of Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink onto an acrylic block and then, with a lightly wet brush, picked up some color and splattered it onto the card. I removed the mask and stamped the sentiment in Versafine Black Onyx ink.
Finally, I added Scor-tape to the back of the card front and adhered it to an A2-sized card base and that finished up the card.
The next time I try this, I think I may choose a very light dye ink. While I was able to retain some of the detail of the butterfly, the veins blended away a bit too much and are harder to see where I used darker orange.
Thanks for visiting!
*Eclipse Tape is a 6″ wide roll low tack tape (it feels like Post-It tape to me). It can be used like Stick It Adhesive Sheets or Inkadinkadoo Mask Paper, but I find it to be much more affordable since the roll contains 33 feet of tape. It doesn’t have release paper, but I apply it to cardstock and find that it peels off cleanly.
UPDATE: I submitted this card to the CASology Challenge, Week #295, and received an honorable mention.
Hi there! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the weekend to get here. It’s been quite a week!
Today I’m sharing a one layer card using the Simon Says Stamp Believe stamp set. I just love this scripty font!
I started by using painter’s tape to tape down an A2-sized piece of Canson XL watercolor paper to an inexpensive Jack Richeson hardboard panel (any board will do, even a plastic clipboard). Using a wet 8 round brush, I transferred some Peerless Watercolor’s Robin’s Egg Blue to an acrylic block which I used as my palette. I added some extra clean clear water to lighten the color a bit as Peerless Watercolors are quite vibrant.
Then, using a clean brush, I added clean clear water to the watercolor paper in the general area where I wanted to create the wash. Since I’m still new to watercolor, and not very practiced in all of its subtleties, I have no idea if this is the best way to achieve the look I want, which is a wash that fades into nothing. I’m learning as I go, one card at a time!
I then dropped color onto the bottom left of the watercolor paper and watched it spread. I tried to tilt the board to get the watercolor moving in the right direction,, towards the top right, and when it stalled in a harsh line, I added a bit of clean clear water in its path to pull the paint forward. When I had a decent looking wash, I used my heat gun to dry the card front.
I put the dry card front into my Misti stamping tool and stamped the sentiment in Versafine Black Onyx ink. I used the Misti because watercolor paper has a bit of texture and I wanted to make sure I could re-stamp in the same place if I didn’t get a crisp image the first time. I ended up having to stamp three times to get into all of the nooks and crannies of the paper.
I usually use liquid adhesive to adhere my card fronts to card bases, but since my panel was a bit warped I wanted to use an extra strong adhesive. I used Scor-Tape double-sided tape, which really has a strong grip, and that finished up the card.
Thanks for swinging by!
On Sunday I finally made time to swatch out the Peerless Watercolors that I’ve collected. I have two sets now, the “Complete Edition” which has 15 colors, and the “Bonus Pack” which has 40 additional colors. I swatched them onto 2-inch squares of watercolor paper so that I could keep them in coin pages, as suggested by Jennifer McGuire here.
With that done, I got down to making this card. I started by heat embossing the My Favorite Things Etched Flowers background onto Canson XL watercolor paper using VersaMark ink and Hero Arts white embossing powder. I used painter’s tape to tape the embossed card front down to my work surface. Using a flat brush, I wet down the surface with clean clear water and then painted the flowers and sky with Peerless Watercolors.
I did the same with the hummingbirds from the Pretty Pink Posh Hummingbird Thanks stamp set, heat embossing and then watercoloring them with the same supplies. To finish the hummingbirds, I used a black Sakura Glaze Gel Pen to add som”e color and dimension to the birds’ eyes and beaks.
The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp’s Stained Glass Love stamp set. The complete sentiment reads “so very thankful you are my” but I masked off the “you are my” so I could have this standalone sentiment. I stamped it using Versafine Black Onyx ink.
To finish, I trimmed the card front to just smaller than an A2 size, popped up and adhered the hummingbirds and sentiment using foam tape, and glued the card front to an A2-sized card base.
Thanks for reading, I hope you have a great day!
SkyPaperScissors 