First Communion Banner by Reneé Matarese

 Hello Ai fans!

This was a first for me.

I had a friend ask for a First Communion Banner.

This is pretty foreign to me, so I pulled out lots of my Art Impressions stamps and especially the dies.

She said she wanted her son's banner to be really unique and stand out from the rest.

I hope I did it justice. I've never actually seen one.
(all Art Impressions products are linked at the bottom of this post)

Working from top to bottom, I used an assortment of Art Impressions Dies and capped things off with two stamps from the 5419 – Bible Icons Set 1. The church and roof were completely free handed with the help of my paper trimmer. 

The stained glass windows are my favorite part, although those tiny little doves are a very close second. I hope this is something that they save and he treasures. He'll be wearing a little navy blue suit with brown shoes so I used my very old Sizzix doll die to try to recreate Michael.

May the Joy of Easter be Yours and Happy Mother's Day Cards by Diane Mason

 Hello, and welcome back for Watercolor Weekend!

Happy Easter, Ai Watercolor Friends! I hope you are having a joyous weekend. I have two watercolor cards to share with you today. The first is an Easter card and the second is a Mother’s Day card.

May the Joy of Easter be Yours Card:

Recently, I’ve seen multiple versions of Cross Pop-up cards online, but none yielded an A2-sized card. So I decided to create my own. Since it is Easter Sunday, you probably won’t be creating this card today, but maybe an idea for next year? I think this design would also make a lovely Confirmation or Sympathy card. If you like this design, you can bookmark this page and save it for future reference.

To create an A2-sized card, I used the following measurements, shown in the photo below, for the pop-up. All of the elements will get attached to an A2 card base (8 ½ x 5 1/5 inches, folded in half).

As shown above, I cut a piece of light purple cardstock, sized 5.5 inches by 5.25 inches. Using a scoring board, I scored the cardstock at 1.5, 2, 3.25, and 3.75 inches to create the pop-up piece. Next, I adhered the patterned paper pieces (6033 – Inspirational Easter Paper Pack) to the pop-up base, leaving an even border in each section. I folded the pop-up piece on the score lines to create the raised area in the center. Then I adhered the pop-up base to the front of the card base. I started on the left side and lined-up the left edge with the fold of the card base, and continued across the card. To maintain the pop-up, I matched the right edge and adhered it in place. I then pressed the pop-up flat to be sure it would lie flat to fit in an envelope. I then adhered the patterned paper to the cross piece (3.25 by 1.25 inches cardstock piece). I waited to adhere this piece to the pop-up until my painting was finished, die-cut, and matted.

The image of the pot of Easter Lilies is from the recently released 6029 – Easter Lilies Set. I inked the pot with 603 and the lilies and leaves with 177 and stamped them onto my Canson XL watercolor paper. I pulled some color from the leaves and added more 177 from my palette. For the highlighted areas of the leaves, I applied a mix of 173 and 177. I used 565 to shade the white flower petals and added 173 to the centers. Once dry, I painted in the flower stamens (177 for the filaments and 925 for the anthers) with a 0-round brush. I painted the pot with 603, leaving the center lighter to give the pot a rounded shape. Shadows were added with more 603 and 565. White stripes were added to the pot, using Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White. I brushed in a watery mix of 407 for the background and 565 for the shadow under the pot.

I die-cut the painting and mat with dies from 5065 – Oval Double Stitched Dies and 5727 – Nested Oval Dies. I then adhered the cross piece to the back of the center of the ovals. I pressed the pop-up flat to the right, lined up the edge of the cross piece with the edge of the card, and adhered it in place. When adhered properly, the card will lie flat and fit perfectly into an A2-sized envelope. I inked the Happy Easter (6029) sentiment with Versafine Onyx Black ink and stamped in the bottom right of the card.

For the interior of the card, I inked the “May the joy of Easter be yours” sentiment (6029) with 603, and stamped a couple of times to darken, using a stamp platform. I did the same with the flowers from 6025 – Fear Not Set.

With Joy on my mind, I decided to create a little bookmark to tuck into the card. I die-cut the decorative cross (5909 – Crosses Die Set) three times from metallic gold cardstock and adhered them together to give the cross some thickness. I die-cut the Joy die (5986 – Jesus & Joy Dies) twice from light purple cardstock and adhered it to the cross with glue. I looped a piece of white and gold baker's twine through the hole at the top of the cross and tied the two ends together to form a tassel. I tucked the cross into the card and temporarily attached it to the card with a glue dot. And to be a little extra, I die-cut a tiny gold cross (5987 – Bible Journal Icon Die Set) and adhered it to the back of the card.

 “Happy Mother’s Day” Card:

For this whimsical Mother’s Day card, I used the stacked teacup image from the recently released 6024 – Tea Time Set. I inked the image with N52 and stamped it onto watercolor paper. Here is a list of colors I used for each cup, starting from the top down:

Pink Polka Dot Tea Cup: 703 and Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White
Yellow Tea Cup:  993, Bleed Proof White, and Yellow Gold Gansai Tambi paint
Green Tea Cup:  249 for the cup and floral design
White Tea Cup:  565 for shadows and Yellow Gold Gansai Tambi paint
Orange Tea Cup:  925 and Bleed Proof White
Pink and White Floral Tea Cup:  725 for lip, handle and base, 565 for shadows, 249 for vine and 993 for flower

* 565 was used to shade all of the teacups and for the shadow under the cups.

I had planned to use a gold gel pen to add the gold accents to the cups, but sadly, my pen had dried up. So instead, I remembered I had some beautiful metallic Yellow Gold Gansai Tambi watercolor paint. I used that for the accents and also painted the frame of my die-cut piece (5588 – Journal Oval Frames Die Set). For the card front, I used patterned paper from 6036 – Easter Bunny Paper Pack. I popped the green striped piece up with foam tape and adhered the painting to the popped-up piece.

For the interior of my card, I stamped the “Happy Mother’s Day” sentiment and floral vine from 6024, in Versafine Onyx Black ink. I painted the vine with 249 and the flowers with 993. I adhered a leftover strip of patterned paper to the bottom edge of the card to make it “fancy”.

I had a great time dreaming up fun designs for the teacups. Drawing colors from the patterned paper really helped the composition come together nicely. I think this same design would make a lovely birthday, hello friend, or just because card too! I would love to see some variations of this card. If you make this card, be sure to tag us on social media – we’d love to see your work!

That’s all for now, thank you for stopping by for Watercolor Weekend. Until next time, Happy Painting!