Watercolour Wednesday Beauty of Tomorrow

 If you've been here before you might have realised I'm rather into making the most from my stash. It was this desire to waste not want not that has led to today's card. If you saw yesterday's post, which you can find here, you'll know that I was playing with the gorgeous Beauty of Tomorrow stamps and the super Soft Pastels assortment.   And one of the things is that once you've finished popping you pastels you're left with some colour on the silicon mat. 

Sooo my use it don't waste it brain said lets see what I can do with that. As we always share a project featuring watercolour on a Wednesday I thought lets see what happens if I use my water painter!! 

With a damp waterpainter I picked up some of the colour left on the silicon sheet. I then swoshed it across my white cardstock mat! And it worked!!! It left a beautiful soft colour that I loved so I carried on until I'd used all the colours 😅

Now I had a beautiful rainbow looking background to use. Now I don’t know if you've ever heard of it but when a beloved pet dies we say they have crossed the rainbow bridge.  One of the sentiments in the Beauty of Tomorrow stamps says "I know this is a difficult day". It jumped out at me as being thw perfect pairing with this gentle rainbow for a card for some one who has lost a dear furry friend.

I stamped the large sprig in a soft grey colour called smoky slate onto the watercolour background to continue to soft look. I then mounted both the watercolour mat and the sentiment mat onto a rich purple coloured cardstock. Mounting both onto a white card base and added 3 coloured gems finished my card.

I had fun playing with the pastels and water but did worry it might rub off but no once it was dried it didn't! Which was really useful 😅

So the moral of todays post? Don't be afraid to try different thing that will expand your stash. After all we all want the most bang for our buck don’t we?

Watercolour Wednesday Penguin Place

 Do you ever have a week where you just can't get the day's right? Well this week is one such week for me!!yesterday I just didn't think it was going to be Wednesday today! And because of that I didn't get a card finished to share here!!! So better late than never here is my watercolour Wednesday Penguin Place card!!

I created a quick but colourful watercolour wash background. Using the fab Layering Diorama dies I created an iceberg for my penguin to rest on. 

I stamped my reclining penguin and fussy cut him out.

I used 3D foam to give the iceberg dimension and added a little watercolour shadow under my penguin.  

Then I  used the super fun I like you a lottle sentiment to make a fast easy card.

 Hopefully I'll get my day's  sorted for the rest of the week 😉 and normal service will be resumed tomorrow 😅 

Have fun x

Watercolour Wednesday Delicate Dahlias

 Sadly here in my part of the world the summer has come to a grinding halt and autumn is here already! I've  got my fingers crossed for a dry crisp autumn not a dismal wet one! My card today is full of rich autumnal colours with hints of gold just the colours that make autumn so beautiful.  And Dahlias remind me of autumn too for some reason! 

For my watercolour Wednesday card I thought I'd use a simple technique.  I chose the infil large stamp for this first stage of my design.

 firstly you ink up your stamp in a light coloured ink. Then take a sponge dauber and dab a darker colour around the edge or in the centre of you flower stamp. 

Next add water. You add water to the inked up stamp by misting it with a spritzer filled with water. Not too much misting as I didn't use watercolour paper so didn't want to make my white cardstock sodden. 

I then stamped quickly straight down and up. After each stamping clean the stamp and repeat until your cardstock is filled. Now pop it aside to dry.

Now don't panic if it doesn't look fabulous...yet! A little magic and it'll come together promise 😉

Once the piece is completely dry dab all over with an anti static bag . Then stamp the outline stamp using versamark ink. The stamps are photopolymer so linning them up is easy but don't panic too much.  A little this was or that isn't  a problem.  Heat emboss usingbgold embossing powder. The fine lines of gold really add that certainly little something that the photos dont really do justice to.

A gold heat embossed sentiment on a diecut shape in the same coral colour cardstock as the card base and mat . With a leaf also heat embossed in gold on coral card was fussy cut out and place beneath.  Then a little white bakers twine wrapped around and swirly bit added I was finished 

One tip I will share is when you start making the  background cut a piece of cardstock bigger than you think you need. Then when complete you can trim to size. Now don't discard the trimmings use them to decorate the inside of your card! 

So that's all for today. I hope the weather is good where you are and if it's not maybe that's a good excuse to get some crafting time 😉

Watercolour Wednesday Quite Meadow

 Do you have a style you aspire too but find yourself not quite hitting it? Well that's me and the vintage/distressed look. But as the beautiful Quite Meadow stamps lend themselves to the vintage style I thougjt why not give it a go! And I sure am glad I did!!!

First I took a piece of white cardstock and using white embossing powder and versamark ink stamped the large floral spray image 3 times in one corner. I then heat set it. 

This created a resist image for my watercolour wash. Using the broad water painter and ink I washed all over the cardstock starting from the same corner as my images . This ment it created a natural ombre effect. I  let it dry and rhen went back and using a finer water painter added darker ink to the flowers themselves.

Next I used the water painter to add splashes of ink. I then waited for that to dry and used the splatter stamp from the set in the same colour ink to add a little more depth to the bottom of the piece.

The colour ink I used was a lovely soft peachy orange called Pale Papaya. Whilst I was waiting for the inks to dry I set about creating my card base and an additional layer.

The card base is in a lovely neutral soft kraft colour called Crumb Cake.  And once I'd made the base I used the splatter stamp and the same ink colour atound the edges. This tone on tone effect screams vintage to me.

The next layer of cardstock is in a very pale punk called Petal Pink.  Again I stamped tone on tone but this time using the vintage text stamp. I also distressed the edges of the card using the blade of my scissors.  ( Gill hates this effect as it's  frayed and not neat!!! 😅)

Once the main panels was dry I placed the layers together and sorted out the sentiment. I stamped the sentiment in crumb cake ink onto white cardstock then used a blending brush to add a light application of ink around ths edges to take the whiteness off. A scrap of the petal pink cardstock and a little more distressing to the edges and I was happy to use it as a mat for my sentiment.

I placed  the sentiment onto the panels and the wrapped some vanilla coloured bakers twine around and tied in a simple bow to finish my card.

And the final card was I happy with it?

Yes I was pleased with the results. I know vintage isn't my go to style of card making, and I know I'm  no expert but I like what I created. 

So what's the style you aspire too but find difficult to achieve? 

Watercolour Wednesday Peekaboo Farm

 Today I'm going to share a project featuring a watercolour technique that I usually steer away from. Some talented people can create beautiful watercolour scenes in a trice. Me I struggle 😩 but tody I've  given it a go because the little pig in the Peekaboo Farm stamp set just called out to be used in this way!!.

The pig immediately took me back to childhood and reading fairytales and the like. And of course  the tale of the three little pigs. So I tried to recreate the cover of one of my story books that is long gone but still lives in my memories.

First I created the background by using a grey granite wash across the bottom of my mat.  Then I did the same in blue across the top for the sky. For these 2 parts I used my brush in  horizontal lines.  Then for the mid portion I used green but used vertical brush strokes in an attempt to make it look grass like.

Now the stamping fun began as I was able to use the stone wall stamp to make the bottom look more like a wall.

I then took a grass stamp from another stamp set and added to the center panel to hopefully reinforce the idea of a field. The little flowers are from a die set.

Next I stamped coloured and fussy cut out my three little pigs and adhered them in place looking over the wall.

Rather than a  stamped sentiment I die cut the letters to add the title to my card. A few more die cut flowers and I was done.

For the inside I decided to use the grass stamped some more of the cute die cut flowers.  I like to embellish the inside of my cards to coordinate with the front.

 So what do you think of my very basic watercolour scene?  I know it's  not the best but I luke it and it made me smile a lot ☺ 

Watercolour Wednesday You're a Peach

 Want a super fast watercolour background? But don't want any mess? Then have I got a good option for you!! I have been playing with the You're Peach suite this week and the gorgeous You're a Peach in particular because for the month of July it's on special offer with 15% off!!!

But an even better reason to be using it on Watercolour Wednesday is because of the fantastic watercolour strip papers!!! These fab papers make a great no mess alternative to actually painting the strips yourself if time isn't on your side or you just don't want to do it yourself!! 😅

So here are my super quick cheats watercolour strip cards. Which do you prefer?  A...

Or B.....

I created both cards using the beautiful stamps from the Sweet as a Peach stamp set and used the Stitched So Sweetly dies for the focal points and sentiments.

I love both my cheats watercolour strip cards 😍  but which do you prefer?  A? Or B?

Watercolour Wednesday Flowers of Friendship

 I enjoyed playing with my watercolour pencils so much on Monday that I was inspired to break them out for watercolour Wednesday!!! I wanted to create a quick, simple and not to messy background and I'm happy to report that today's technique is all those things 🙂 The hardest part was choosing which colours to use 😅. 

So all you need are Watercolour pencils , white cardstock and either a waterpainter or a brush and a small amount of water. Next scribble your chosen colours across  the cardstock. Now it doesn't have to be precise so don't over think it!. I wanted full coverage so I scribbled all across the cardstock in varying width bands.

Next I took my water painter and moisened the bristles.  You don't want them sopping wet as we're creating a mess free watercolour 😉 I started by brushing side to side on the lightest colour, Calypso coral. 

I then moved onto the pink then the purple colours, melon mambo and rich razzleberry. Now you could completly brush out the lines but I rather liked them so left them in. But at this stage blending the colours is easy.  

The piece above was my test piece and all I did for todays card was use a larger piece of cardstock!! Once I'd made the background I used the large floral image from the Flowers of Friendship stamp set and heat embossed it in white.

I also tore a stip of vellum and heat embossed my sentiment in white. I wrapped the vellum around the panel and secured it at the back.

A few coloured gems and my card was complete. I hope you'll have a go at this simple technique and enjoy doing it as much as I did. 

Watercolour Wednesday Party Puffins

 When you we're a child did you like jumping in puddles? I most certainly did and when I was not such a young child ! 😉 well it was splashing in puddles that inspired today's watercolour Wednesday card. One of the puffins in the Party Puffins stamp set just lookes like he's splish splashing about so I set about making a watercolour background for then to be jumping in.

To achieve the background I took my chosen colour of ink added lots of water to it on a piece of plastic, I actually used an old cellophane bag. I then took my piece of white cardstock and dabbed it onto the ink. 

Whilst the piece was drying I stamped and fussy cut out 3 puffins and a little fish.  The sentiment was stamped and die cut out and voilà my splish splash puffins card was complete on the outside....

Then it was onto the inside of my card. For this I used the negative space from the die cut for the sentiment.  I turned it into a frame and stamped and coloured the image of a cake from the stamp set just for fun 😀 

I was very happy with how this fun card turned out. I love the colours and the super cute puffins. What do you think?

If you're interested in buying any of the products I've used and you live in the UK we'd love you to shop with us just click Here to visit our online shop

And if you're interest in joining our super team, the Larger Than Life Stampers,  please either click Here . For more information about joining please contact us we're happy to chat. 

Watercolour Wednesday Vine Design

 Today's card is a 2for1 kind of deal. I used a technique called Rock-n-Roll stamping with a water spritzer.  I used the large fern image from  the Vine Design stamp set as well as one ofbthe pretty flowers in the set.

First I used the Rock-n-Roll technique to ink up the fern stamp. You do this by first inking the whole stamp in one colour, I chose a light green. Then you take another darker colour, I used a dark green, and gently roll the ink pad around the outer edge of the stamp. By doing this you end up with a two tone effect on the stamp. 

Usually you then stamp the image onto your cardstock. But as I wanted to create a more watercoloured effect I spritzed the stamp with water before stamping onto a lightly damp piece of watercolour paper. 

I then gently respritzed the stamp with water and stamped it again onto a piece of watercolour paper...2 images for 1 inking!!

I love the way the colour spreads and mingles and how you get 2for1!!

I then used the same two techniques for the flowers. Then used the dies that coordinate with the stamps to cut them out.

A piece of coordinating card embossed with a lovely texture folder and the card was done bar the sentiment. I heat embossed the sentiment using white powder to keep up the bright look that I was looking for.

Watercolour Wednesday Hey Birthday Chick

 Today I'm sharing a soft and gentle card to show that the Hey Chick stamps don't have to be bright and bold.  I also think this card would be a lovely one to send to an  expectant parent or grandparent . 

The sentiment is from a set called Many Messages.  It's one that a think is rather lovely.

For the front of the card I first stamped the chick in stazon ink three times across the long card mat. The reason I used stazon is that I wanted the image not to bleed once I applied water.

I then took 3 coloured water based marker pens, a water spritzer and an acrylic block. First I  scribbled small spots of the markers randomly onto the acrylic block.  Then I spritzed water over the block. How much to spritz is a question of practice so my big tip is practice on scrap cardstock until you're confident of the look you're after.

Now flip your block over onto the stamped image. I chose to use the dame size block that I'd  used to hold my stamp so that it would fit appropriately.  As you watch the cardstock soaks up the ink and water and your acrylic block will become clear and cleam that is when it's time to remove the block.

Once I'd coloured all three images I left it to dry and made my card base and sentiment. You can use a heat tool , gently, to dry the piece but it doesn't  take too long honestly.

Once the card was completed I was very happy with the end result a soft and gentle Hey Chick card. 

Watercolour Wednesday Love you Always suite

 For today's watercolour inspiration I played with just 2 colour reinkers, watercolour card, a stencil, stamps and dies and a cello bag.  The Love you Always suite has 2 stamp sets and 2 coordinating dies. One of those dies is a beautiful detailed heart shape. The Floral heart dies coordinate with the Love you Always stamps.

I knew I wanted to create a background with a watercolour technique. First I  gathered some watercolour cardstock,  reinkers, spritzer and a stencil.  I then took 2 reinkers , one purple and one turquoise,  and a cello bag. I dropped tiny drops of both reinkers randomly onto the cello bag. A piece of any plastic/ acetate/ silicon mat would work equally well it was just that I had a cello bag to hand 😉. I spritzed the cello bag with water to activate the ink.

I then placed 1 sheet of dry watercolour cardstock onto the scarp paper and placed the stencil on top. Next I quickly flipped the cello bag over and on top of them.  Then I took the cello bag off and placed a second piece of watercolour cardstock on top of the mask in place of the cello bag. By doing this I can make a second background with the ink that sits on the mask as well as one that uses the ink that goes through the mask  . I hope that makes sense 😉

Once my backgrounds were dry I cut them to size and created 2 square cards.  On the background that was under the stencil I used the delicate heart die and cut it out then raised it up on 3D foam and replaced it back into the space. This effect is often called an eclipse technique.

I finished the card with a sentiment stamped and heat embossed with white embossing powder onto a vellum banner.

For the second card I used the background that was on top of the stencil to create a simpler card. 

Now not being one to wast anything I used the scraps of the backgrounds to create 2 gift tag cum book marks to go with the cards.  I also had some scraps from yesterday's project so incorporated them too.. Waste not Want not ehh 😉

I do hope you'll give this fun, if a bit messy, technique.  I love creating backgrounds do you?