Watercolour Wednesday Snowy Wonder

 Do you ever have happy accidents? Well today card is made from one such accident! Whilst trying to create a watercolour drop background on my glass mat I inadvertently created a fun background on the back of the panel 🤣. I wanted to create a snowy scene for the snow man from the Snowy Wonder stamp set. Do you ever have the vision in your head and work from that? I do until it all changes with a happy accident 🤣

So it all starts with dropping water onto cardstock and gently dabbing a bubble of ink from a reinker onto the water. This was done on a glass mat. 

The effect needs some work and practice before it's ready to showcase I decided... but low and behold when I picked it up and saw the back... 

I was one happy bunny! The water and ink had gone through the cardstock and onto the glass mat and created a fab background 👌. 

So with this background to play with I created today's card.

I have used my latest favourite embossing folder and cut 2 appatures from a piece of thick white cardstock the same size as the  card front. Next I cut the background panel into 3 pieces to fit behind the appatures. This leaves 1 piece to be used for the 3rd panel.

To create the 3rd panel die cut the same appature from a piece of cardstock slightly larger to create a frame. Next adhere the background piece to another piece of cardstock measuring the same as the outer edge of the frame.

The snowmen were all stamped and die cut using the Snowy Wonder dies from the bundle.

Use 3d foam to raise the snowmen and the embossed front panel and adhere over the card front.

Whilst there was still inky water on the glass mat I had dabbed the edge of a panel for the inside of the card. Once dry stamp a snowman on the bottom edge as well.

Don't you agree that these snowmen are the cutest ?

Watercolour Wednesday Leaf Collection

 So how do you use a large background stamp such as the gorgeous Leaf collection with watercolour?  There must be many ways but the one that popped into my head was a fun one. I'm  not sure what it's called but it's a fun one to do for sure! The Leaf collection stamp is proving to be so very versatile! 

The card starts out by chosing your colour palette.  This card is all shades of green 💚. You can choose as many as you like but be prepared to play around because each time will be unique. 

Place your stamp on a wipe clean surface such as the Glass studio mat . Then using your water based markers colour your stamp. Make sure the pens are Not alcohol markers as these will not come off your stamp!

Once you've coloured the stamp in take a piece of watercolour paper and spritz it lightly with water. Then spritz your coloured in stamp and place the watercolour paper on top. Let the paper sit for a moment to absorb the water and ink.

Once you take the paper off the stamp be sure to place it on to a flat surface and let it dry completely. 

Once you have your beautiful background the sky's the limit with what you can use it for. For today's inspiration I went with an oldie but goodie technique.  Called triple stamping it's a really fun way to make the most of your background. 

Start by trimming you background to the size you want it to be, in this case 14.4cm x  10cm. The take a set of nesting dies, I've used the Deckled rectangle dies, and select 3 that fit together but leave even gaps.   Carefully place all three dies onto your background panel and die cut them at once. 

Next cut narrow mats to adhere each layer onto. I chose to use the same shade of green as the cardstock used for the card base. Then adhere each layer together so that the pattern flows as if it hadn't been cut apart.

As you can see I chose to stamp the sentiment directly onto the center panel.  But you could put your sentiment on a seperate mat and attatch anywhere on the card.

I scattered a few grey pearls around and added a strip of the off cut background inside the card.

I do hope you'll give this fun technique a go. 😀

 

Watercolour Wednesday Beach Day

 

Summer has returned to my small corner of the world 😀 but sadly for me a trip to the beach is not on the cards 😢.  By using the Beach Day stamps and dies I can let my imagination take me there!

The background is a simple wet watercolour wash. The images are stamped and watercoloured in,  not my greatest skill for sure!

The sentiment is stamped directly onto the card base whilst the focal point is mounted onto black cardstock and popped up on 3d foam. 

The grasses and shells are stamped directly onto the watercolour panel.  The other images are stamped,  coloured and then die cut out. 

I have to say my personal favourites are the seagulls !

Watercolor Wednesday pattern paper week

 As it's Wednesday it should be the day to feature watercolour. But as this week is all about pattern papers I could have chosen from lots of beautiful papers that have a watercolour feel! But there is another way, well there is in my mind anyway 🤪 Watercolour is often seen as a way to colour stamped images something I struggle with. So for today's watercolour inspiration I'm taking a look at a way to add colour to a stamped image with pattern paper... paper piecing! 

The paper I've chosen is one that has 15% off till the end of August 2024. Called Country Woods the paper feature wood grain patterns in natural shades on one side and painted wood on the other.

Paper piecing is a fun way to add colour to any project. You simply stamp your image onto the pattern paper then fussy cut the part of the image you want coloured out. Cut along the stamped lines and once cut out use a marker pen the same colour as the ink and from the back run it around the cut edges. This ensures that there are no white areas to spoil the image once adhered in place. Stamp the same image onto your project the carefully adhere the paper piece into place.

Another way to add another point of interest is to use an embossing folder. For this sample I have created my paper piecing then run the whole thing through the cut and emboss machine with a wood texture embossing folder.

Paper piecing works for the inside of a card too 😉

All in all the wood effects with the peony flowers work really well together.

Watercolour Wednesday Attention Shoppers

 Watercolour does have to mean lots of artistic talent or time. It can be as simple as a wash of colour which is what today's card has! Using the Attention Shoppers stamps and a splash of colour creates a fun card perfect for all those shoppers in your life 😉

After the wash had dried, it doesn't take very long, splatter some of the ink over the panel to add another effect . 

The colour combination is my daughters favourite blues and yellow.  The pop of yellow with the various shades of blue give a bright and fresh feel to the card.

A scatter of matt dots and the card is complete 😀 providing that watercolour doesn't have to take neither time nor talent 🤣

Watercolour Wednesday Simply Sparkling

A softer colour palette and cleaner lines make for a very different card using the amazing Simply sparkling dies . The card starts with a smooshed watercolour background. 

Watercolour smooshing is a fun technique to add ink to paper. All you need are waterbased ink pads, paper, water spritzer and a place to dab and spritz your ink. You can dab the ink pads onto your glass cutting mat , a silicone mat or even just a cello bag! Then just spritz water over the ink and dab your paper into the wet ink. The colours will smoosh together and create beautiful backgrounds. For today's card I used a light lilac colour and a turquoise colour.

Next die cut using the bubble 🫧 die from the Simply Sparkling die set cut twice from a mat of white cardstock measuring 14.85cm x 10.5cm. This panel is going to cover the entire front of the card. 

Move the now dry watercolour background around behind the appature until you get a pleasing result. Then adhere the 2 pieces together. 

Now decorate!  I due cut several more of the bubbles and adhered them together . Then inserted them into the appature. 

Using the circles that come out of the die cut and small dabs of adhesive add further texture and interest to the card front.

 

A simple sentiment on a strip of white cardstock popped up on 3d foam and the card is complete.

Watercolour Wednesday Sweet Peas

 Aren't the images in the Sweet Peas stamp set just the cutest? And the sentiments are just perfectly punny the perfect combination!  As is today's inspiration. Why not combine different mediums to create fab backgrounds for your cards!

Today's card starts as a piece of white cardstock to which you add a watercolour wash using your reinker.  Leave the brush strokes visible as it adds to the finished effect!

Once the piece is completely dry take the same colour ink and stamp tone on tone all over randomly.  Make sure that you stamp off the edges of the wash and the piece of cardstock.

Now it's time to get a bit artsy grab a pen and add dots along parts of the images you've stamped. You can use any colour pen you like the sample has white but grey or black would have worked equally as well.

With the background finished adhere it to your card base and think about the focal point. 

For the focal point I chose the cute Peas in a pod image . Stamped in basic grey and coloured with alcohol markers the image is then set within a frame. The frame is crated using nested dies. Cut 3 frames and adhere them together to create a dimensional frame.

The punny sentiments in the Sweet Peas set are just so adorable and give the perfect finish to the card!

Watercolour Wednesday Citrus Blooms

Do you like watercolour? Are you a little intimidated by it? Well if you answer yes to both today's card might be just for you! Made using the Citrus Blooms bundle of stamps and dies and using what I call a wet watercolour wash technique you can create gorgeous watercolour effects.

Start with the background piece. Take a piece of watercolour paper and attach it to a board, make use of the grey board from packs of pattern paper 😉, using low tack tape and creating a narrow boarder around the piece. Taping your watercolour paper to a board allows the panel to remain flat. 

Now take your water spritzer and thoroughly spritz the panel. It needs to be wet! Then using almost neat reinker gently dab the colours to the paper. Allow the colour to spread via the water on the panel. Using 3 shades of one colour gives a great tonal effect to the piece. Use kitchen roll to dab any excess and water that runs of the paper.

Once completely dry remove from the board.

Then take the large frame die and the small foliage die and place them in the center of the panel and cut out.

With the main panel complete repeat the process on a smaller panel of watercolour paper and using an orange colour ink.

This time instead of die cutting stamp the image of the orange using a dark brown ink onto the panel. 

Now stamp the same image with the brown ink  onto a piece of vanilla cardstock and die cut it out. Then fussy cut the orange from the watercolour paper along the stamped lines. Top tip here is that when you've finished cutting it out take a marker pen in the same colour and run it along the cut edges. This creates a more seamless look once the fussy cut piece is adhered to the stamped image. This technique is called paper piecing. 

For those of us who find watercolouring an image different the wet watercolour wash and paper piecing tequniques provide a beautiful alternative 😀 

Once all the pieces are layered together the final card has an elegant look. Keeping the card base and layers in the same colour palette as the background piece gives a harmonious feel. The pop of orange on the fruit and flowers brings a little zest to the finished card.

The small foliage flourish that was die cut from the background piece is used to decorate the inside of the card.

A fun and easy way to create a watercolour card with no stress at all!

Watercolour Wednesday's Friends for Life

 Sometimes you just have to make a mess to create something beautiful! And today's watercolour card might be just one such example! Wednesday is always watercolour based inspiration so today's no exception it just happened to get a bit messy 🤣 ... nothing  new for me then 😉 The first time I die cut out the heart and filigree insert from the Friends for life coordinating dies I just knew I had to make something with the little petal shapped pieces that came out of the filigree part!

So let's start with the watercolour component of the project. After cutting a pice of watercolour paper to size and using low tack tape to adhere it to a piece of grey board spritz the piece thoroughly with water. Next add reinker to the piece using a wet waterpainter.  This is a bit of a wet technique .

you don't want the colours to merge together too much so keep the panel as flat as possible and don't rush it. Leave the piece to dry naturally until there is no standing water then you can use a heat tool to speed the process up if you wish.

The colour palette for this project are a bright bold pink, a rich and strong purple with a fresh and vibrant green. This project is designed to make a statement! The colours really pop against the basic black mat and card base!

Once completely dry the Watercolour panel is die cut using the heart outline and filigree insert dies at the same time. Remembering to save the petals for decoration. 

The sentiment is stamped in versamark then heat embossed with white embossing powder onto a piece of basic black cardstock. 

For the insert use the narrow heart outline die cut to decorate. Stamp the bold best word in black.  Then using versamark and white embossing powder stamp the sishes sentiment and fussy cut around it and adhere so that it creates a fun inside to the card as well.

 

A few of the iridescent gems from the full of life suite and the project is complete. Well worth the messy finger don't you think 😉

Watercolour Wednesday Simply Zinnia

Watercolour Wednesday's are so much fun when you take the pressure off! Using  watercolour techniques can be a bit intimidating... but not the technique I've used for today's Simply Zinnia inspiration! 

It all starts with a piece of grey board from the back of a pack of pattern paper.  Add some low tack tape,  reinkers, water, basic white cardstock and a waterpainter and your set for a fun easy way to create watercolour backgrounds that you can use in so many ways!

Cut your cardstock to a size slightly larger than the size you want it to end up at. Next use the low tack tape and tape the cardstock onto the grey board creating a narrow boarder all the way around. Taping onto the grey board helps keep the cardstock flat when dried.

Next drop a few drops of reinker onto a wipeable surface or into a clean bottle cap and add a drop or two of water. Next with your widest waterpainter load up the ink and swipe it across the white cardstock continuously until the colour runs out.  Continue until the panel is coloured the way you want it to be. You can add layers of colour to the cardstock but don't be tempted to add too much water as it's not watercolour paper 😉 Then either leave the panel to dry or use a heat tool to speed up the process. 

You can also add splatters of colour across the panel too. I used white and black on the piece I created for the flowers on the card.

Top tip if your tape doesn't want to lift easily the use your heat tool or hairdryer to gently warm the tape. The warmth will loosen the adhesive and help it come away easily. 

Once the backgrounds were dry I adhered the green one onto a card base. 

The pink one I stamped the single flower from the Simply Zinnia stamps in black ink onto it. I ended up with 5 full flowers and 2 partial flowers which I die cut out using the coordinating Dies.

The leaves were stamped in black ink onto green cardstock. Then I used my watercolour pencils to add shadows and highlights to the leaves befor die cutting them out. 

I used the white watercolour pencil on the leaves and a white gel pen on the stamps of the flowers. These white highlights really help make the finished piece look beautiful. 

The part flowers are used to decorate the inside panel of the card... you can't waste such pretty things 😉.

The flowers and leaves are adhered flat but with some of the leaves just not completely adhered down to give a little texture. The sentiment is adhered using 3d foam .

All in all a fun and colourful card that doesn't rely on colouring in to give the flowers their colour.. great for those of us who aren't that way inclined 😉

Watercolour Wednesday Submarine Life

 Today's project uses a fun watercolour background. Of course it had to be an under water scene for the Submarine Life stamps and coordinating builder Punch! 

The background was created on watercolour paper using ink pads, a rectangular acrylic and a water spritzer.  Start by inking up the acrylic block then spritzing it well with water. Next place it onto the watercolour paper and squish and shimmy it over the area you want coloured. Let the ink dry either naturally or with a heat tool then repeat as desired.

The finished effect is mottled and give a really textured look to the piece. You can then sprinkle with water all over and mop up immediately with a paper towel if desired.

I wanted the card to look like a fish tank with a toy submarine in it. To do this I cut an appature from a piece of cardstock and placed a piece of acetate behind it. Next adhere the watercolour panel to the middle of a card base. 

The seaweed is stamped and fussy cut out and adhered to the inside of the frame. The submarine is adhered to the watercolour panel using 3d foam.

 Then using 3d foam adhere the frame and acetate over the watercolour panel. 

For the inside of the card I just had to include the cute critters from the submarine Life stamps along with an offcut of the sandy layer from the background panel.

All throughout making this sample I was singing.... " We all live in a yellow submarine,  a yellow submarine a yellow submarine ...." So of course it had to be done... A yellow Submarine 💛