Lilies in a Teacup and a Birdbath by Karen Day

 Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

I love the sweet new 6024 Tea Time Set, and wanted to fill the largest teacup with some flowers...

I stamped the cup in N57, leaving the top rim and the motif uncoloured.  I searched through my stash for some flowers to fill the top, and realized that the bouquet from the recently released 6029 Easter Lilies Set fit perfectly!  So I coloured up just the blooms and foliage in N57, and since it is a clear stamp, I was able to position them where I wanted in the cup.

To keep the lilies white, I just added some shading down the center of each petal using #533/565, and outlined the stamens with my orange Twintone pen.  For the leaves, I did layers of #126/177, and added a touch of green to the bottom of the unopened buds.  I mixed #249/565 to create my aqua shade that I painted onto the cup and saucer, created a grey/green shade for the table, and added #533 to the background.  Thinking of my Grandma's teacups... I used my gold gel pen to add a gold rim to the saucer, and coloured in the leaves... then also added touches of gold the stamens in the flower centers.

I die cut my image with a stitched oval die, and put a metallic gold mat under it.  A slightly larger oval was cut out of patterned paper from the 6033 - Inspirational Easter PP, and was attached to my card base with 1/16" foam adhesive - you can see just a hint of the blue card base below it.  The image is raised on a thicker foam adhesive so there is a lot of fun dimension on the card!  To echo the gold touches, the sentiment from the Tea Time Set was gold embossed at the bottom.

My second card features Kim's 5980 - Song Birds and Feeders set.  

I stamped the birdbath in #N57, then using my stamp positioner, added the branch and birds.   The mountains and hillsides were sketched in with a pencil.  I mixed shades of #565/177 to create the blue green colours of the mountains and hills, then added a wash of #177/126 to the foreground.  #565 was painted in as the water and shading contours on the birdbath. I brushed in #476 as the sky, being sure to leave some fluffy white areas to suggest clouds.

I made my birds into robins, as they're a sure sign of spring in my neck of the woods!  I added layers of #947 to their bellies, and shades of N45 to their head, back and feathers.  My black Twintone marker was used to dot their eyes.  There is a small bit of greenery included in the stamp set, so I used it along with #177 to stamp in the foliage, which I touched with a damp brush.  Since I wanted it to be a flowering spring tree, I used white paint to create blossoms in the tree, and dotted their centers with the fine point of my #933 marker.  I used the long grasses from 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4 in #565/177 to stamp some grass around the base of the birdbath, and added a few white paint flowers there as well.

After die cutting my scene with an oval die, I adhered it with 3D foam adhesive over a dark grey mat, and attached it all to my background made with two papers from the 5835 - Mini PP.  I finished off my card with some grey enamel dots.  The finished card size is 4 3/4" x 6".

For Mom by Janet Axtman

It's always a treat to discover unexpected versatility in our stamp sets! While putting away my Easter supplies, the lovely lily from the 6029 - Easter Lilies Set caught my eye with its potential for a Mother's Day card.

Inspired by a similar circular background created by Tina Smith, my card began with cutting nine 1" circles using the 5724-Nested Circle Dies. One of these circles was then cut in half. To add dimension, I gently brushed the edges of each circle with Victorian Velvet and Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide inks, creating a soft two-toned effect.

Next, I selected a piece of lilac polka dot cardstock from the 5939-Fairy Garden PP, cut to 3 1/4" x 4 1/2" with a die from 5726-Nested Rectangle Set. This was adhered to a white A2 card base, leaving a consistent 1/2" border.

The circles were then arranged onto the polka dot panel using foam tape for added lift. Starting with the center row and working outwards allowed for even spacing. The half circles were positioned on either side of the middle row. I appreciated the small border Tina left before the circles began, a detail I incorporated as well, enhancing the overall background.

Before focusing on the lily, I used the new 5910-Large Letter Die Set to cut out two M's and an O for the "Mom" sentiment and set them aside.

The elegant lilies in a vase image from the Easter set were then stamped and colored with Copic markers. After carefully fussy cutting the image, I arranged it on the circular background along with the die-cut "Mom". Finally, I scattered lavender, iridescent, and gold sequins across the card for a touch of sparkle.

Thanks for joining me here today. I hope you enjoyed seeing how I created the background using circles and big letters. Please make a visit to the Ai Store this weekend for all your card making needs and don't forget to image all the different uses a stamp set can have to extend your dollars and collection.

 

Janet - YouTube - Blog - Facebook - Instagram - Pinterest 

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!