Watercolor Roundup 6/6/2020

Hello, Ai Fans!

Welcome to our first Watercolor Weekend of June!

Our fantastic design team has been hard at work creating some beautiful, bright cards to add to your weekend.

Be sure to follow these lovely ladies on social media by clicking the link in pink next to their names!

Tricia O'Bin - Blog - Instagram - YouTube - Pinterest - Facebook

Hello again watercolor fans!  
Welcome to another fabulous weekend of inspiration from the awesome watercolor design team.  I decided to do an easy design that uses just a few stamps.  Join me as I show you how I created this simple Kindness card.

Step 1:
I added a piece of 1 inch post-it tape in the top third of the card, this will protect the area where I want to stamp the sentiment.
Step 2:
First, I inked up the vine from the Foliage Set 2 with green (177).  I stamped it along the top and bottom of the post-it tape.
Step 3:
Next, I inked the lilies from the original Flower Set with pink (725) and green (177) and stamped it in the middle of the card along the top and bottom of the post-it tape.
Step 4:
I inked up the long stems from the Flower Sets 1 & 2 with purple (606) and stamped them to the left and right of the pink blooms along the top and bottom of the post-it tape.
Step 5:
I removed the post-it tape and beginning with the foliage, started softening the leaves.  I added some additional green along the bottom of the foliage.  Next, I softened the blooms.  I used the color left on my palette to do some splatters over the entire piece.  Once it was dry, I placed the piece into the MISTI and stamped the sentiment with Gina K Designs Amalgam ink into the blank area.  I cut it down to 5 x 3.75, signed and dated it.
Step 6:
For embellishments, I added some Gina K Design
s galaxy sequins, with connect glue, to add some interest. I added this to a Gina K Designs bubblegum card stock cut to 5.25 x 4 mat.  I added the whole thing to a Neenah white card base.

I hope you are inspired to create something this weekend.  I know for me, I paint to alleviate stress and anxiety.  Please share your creations with us on Facebook and Instagram.  Have a great day!

Dot Freel - Instagram - Blog - Pinterest

Hello,

This card was inspired by my oldest son's place in Colorado. He lives in a blue and white house with a barn, on four acres on a hill, with his wife and two daughters. He just finished creating an amazing swimming pond and the deer are always on his property. He pretty much lives in paradise. I grew up in Colorado and absolutely loved it. 

I thought it would be good for his birthday card or even his anniversary. 

I made a tutorial on YouTube on it.  Click here to watch it!

Thank you!

Karen Day - Blog - Facebook - Pinterest

Hello!

I have a Southwestern scene to share this week!  

For most of my cards (but especially this one!) I like to plan them out on scrap paper ahead of time.  I usually sit down in front of the TV and design a whole bunch of cards, planning the layout, the stamp sets and even colours/paper if I can.  I don't like to just sit down in front of a blank piece of watercolor paper and try to start stamping - I find I'm much more productive if I have a sketch and a plan.  Here's what my sketches look like:

With my sketch beside me, I planned out what the cactus cluster was going to look like on scrap paper, mixing and matching stamps, and trying out colours to get it just right.  I started stamping it on Bristol Smooth Watercolor paper from the bottom up, using the rock cluster from 4763 Southwest, colouring them in my Tombow Dual Brush Marker #N55 Cool Grey 7, then I added the smaller stones from 5196 WC Desert Set in #947 Burnt Sienna.  

I masked the stones, and stamped the prickly cactus from 4763 Southwest in #228 Grey Green, masked it - and stamped the spiky greenery in #312 Holly Green.  With all of the masks in place, I added the larger cactus from 5196 WC Desert Set in #177 Dark Jade in the background.

I put my watercolor paper into my Misti, along with the frame from 5269 Wood Frames Set from the Bible Journaling line.  I coloured about 3/4 of the frame with #969 Chocolate - just enough to stamp the left side of the frame.  Then I repositioned my paper, moving it about 1/2" to the left and coloured the portion to the right of the cacti, and stamped it.  I did this to make the frame longer than it is, about 1/2" extra so that I could fit the scene in the background.  

I used the smaller rock formation from the 5198 WC Mountain Set coloured in #947, stamping it in the upper left, and after masking the frame, a portion of it in the lower right.  I stamped the tiny rocks from 5196 Desert Set around the base of the mountains several times in #947.

Now that the stamping was done, I finally grabbed my #4 paintbrush, and pulled the colour out of all the images, concentrating it in areas where the shadows would be, and leaving plenty of white highlight areas.  I purposely kept the frame very streaky, adding warmer and darker browns to achieve a worn wood effect.  The river was painted in with #565 Deep Blue, picking it up off my palette, and then using it to add shadows in the mountain crevices and on the rocks & cacti.  I added touches of #676 Royal Purple all over my painting to liven it up a bit!  

Finally the sky was added with #493 Reflex Blue, and I added touches of it to my scene as well.  I die cut my painting with a 5063 Rectangle A2 Double Stitched die, matted it with kraft cardstock and adhered it to my base with some thin 3D adhesive.  A few sequins finished it off. *I had intended to hand write a sentiment just below the frame - but chickened out at the thought of maybe messing it up after all my hard work!  I may think about it a little longer and add it in...  I have a Pacific Northwest version of this card, using a pine tree instead of a cactus - you can see it on my blog here.

Thank you, ladies, for your wonderful weekend additions to our blog!

Happy Stamping!