Tag: watercolor wings

Have I mentioned yet how super pretty the Rose Garden thinlit is?  I swear there are so many different idea and techniques you can use with it to make super fun and pretty cards.  After I started playing with it recently, I just knew I had to try the idea of watercoloring behind the outline.  So, when I needed to come up with project ideas for a Stampin’ Secret Sister swap I was in, I knew it was the perfect time to get to playing.  This is what I came up with:

Not only was it pretty to look at… it was FUN to make!  If you haven’t tried watercoloring, it is such an easy and relaxing technique and you can be messy and it isn’t a mistake – it is a design!

Jennifer’s Project Tips:

• Use an outline thinlit as your guide!  This Rose Garden die just begs to be colored, but make it easy on yourself by not having to worry about coloring in the lines by watercoloring underneath.  I set the die onto a piece of watercolor paper so I could see where to get started and then started coloring.  Every so often, I would hold the cutout over my colored areas on the paper to see where I needed to add more or where I needed to stop.  It isn’t perfect, but that is part of the charm!
• Watercoloring basics – There are a few different ways to do watercoloring, but I find the easiest method is with the Aqua Pen!  The barrel of the pen has water in it (and is refillable) and so there is no drippy water on your craft table (I know I would spill that before I was done ) and you have lots of control over what you are coloring.  Here is my favorite technique:
     1.  Choose the ink color you want to color with and squeeze the ink pad while it is closed so that some ink transfers to the inside of the ink pad lid
     2.  Open the ink pad and leave the underside of the lid exposed
     3.  Squeeze the Aqua Pen gently to make sure the bristles are nice and wet.  I also sometimes brush over my watercolor paper lightly to get it a little wet as well to help the ink spread/blend
     4.  Brush the Aqua Pen in the ink on the LID of the ink pad (DON’T pick up ink from the surface of the pad itself), and start coloring
     5.  When you are done coloring and/or are ready to change colors, scribble with the aqua pen on a piece of scratch paper until no more color is coming off.  Then you are good to go!
  
  
• Have fun layering stamps with sentiments – I love the Watercolor Wings stamp set.  I always say it doesn’t show well in the catalog, but it is another one of those amazing stamp sets that you can mix and match and layer the stamps and they almost always look great!  In this case, I inked the row of polka dots with Tip Top Taupe ink, stamped onto a scrap paper, and then stamped onto my paper!  Then I could stamp my sentiment over the top, just to keep the rose from making the card too bottom heavy.
  
  
• Use sketch lines instead of a bold mat – as I was finishing up the card, I decided it needed something to ground the main image, but I just didn’t want to add another color as a mat for the card.  I liked the spacing of the White and the Mint Macaron card base.  So I fell back on an old favorite – sketch lines!  I grabbed my Tip Top Taupe marker and drew quick lines just inside the edge of the watercolor paper on all the sides.  If you are nervous your line will be not straight enough for you, just grab a ruler and use that to guide you on all sides.

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