Watercolor Weekend 7-15-2023 plus Warehouse Sale!

 Hello Ai fans!

It's a Watercolor Weekend here on the blog and we hope some of you are stopping over to see our fabulous Design Team's work in between all of the fun Live Videos today on the Art Impressions FB page.  Bonnie, Kim and Kendra are live all day with tutorials and giveaways to go along with the virtual Warehouse Sale!

Click these photos to be taken to the sale and our Facebook page for all the fun!

We hope you can join us for all the amazing deals and some fun tutorials and prizes!

Now, let's see what the Watercolor Design Team has for us this week.

First up we have Karen.

Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

I decided to paint a little Cafe scene this week.  This is the 5260 - WC Large ShopsSet:

I coloured my Shop with Tombows #969/565 and stamped it onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper.  To set up my scene, I masked the edge of the building, and stamped the tree trunks from 5373 - WC Large Tree Set in #969, and added the foliage to it using the leafy stamp from 5372 - WC Mini Foliage in #177/126 - I like using two colours to make the leaves look more realistic.  I used a damp brush to soften the foliage, and painted in the trunks in #947 and 969, and added the same two colours to the door.  I used #526 for the building, and #993 on the roof, with a few streaks of #947 to suggest the shingles.  For the flower boxes, I used the two tiny florals in 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set, with #933 and #885, then tucked in the tiny foliage from the set in #126 around the flowers - everything was touched with a damp brush.  The awning was painted a paler shade of #526, and I added stripes in the Bleed-proof white paint.  The sign also had touches of #947 streaked on it to add a rustic look.

I sketched in the patio and walkway stones, then painted them in with #N55.  The tiny grass stamp from 5372 - WC Mini Foliage was used to add grass in #126 around the building, and then the colour was used to add a green wash as the grass.  #493 was washed in as the sky.  The Espresso sign and the table and chairs from 5265 - WC Wrought Iron Set were stamped in using #N55.  The image was cut out with one of the 5063 - Stitched A2 Rectangle Dies, then mounted onto the card base with 3D foam adhesive.

Next is Diane's card and tag.

Welcome Ai Watercolor Weekend fans, it’s Christmas in July! The temperature here today in the San Francisco East Bay area is in the high 90s and may even break 100! Not exactly Christmas weather, but it is the perfect time to get started on some Christmas cards and projects. For this card I’ll be using Art Impressions watercolor sets:  5472 – Christmas Wreath, 5573 – Church and Ornament Set, and 5574 – Door and Stockings Set. To keep this card bright, cheery, and Christmas-y, I chose a color palette of reds, blues, and greens.

 

I wanted to create an overall, random background pattern for my tag using multiple stamps. I drew a pencil line onto my Canson XL watercolor paper, tracing around the outside of the largest tag die from 5132 – Tag Stitched Die to set the stage. Next, I selected multiple stamps including a stocking, ornaments, bow, greenery, berries, and pinecones. I stamped the stockings first and then the ornaments. After that, I filled in the remaining spaces with greenery and pinecones. It’s a good idea to stamp some of the images overlapping the pencil lines to make it look like a repeating pattern. Stockings, bows, and ornaments were all inked with 969/565. The greenery was inked in 249 and 177. The pinecones were inked in 969.

 

With the scene now complete, I used a damp brush and pulled out the stamped lines of the images to create shadows and contours. Before adding any color to the images, I brushed in drop shadows with a watery 565 to the right and down along the stamped images to create depth. I inked just three of the red berries on the berry stamp in 856 and used my positioner to stamp them into place. In planning my color placement, I made sure to randomize the use of colors. I tried my best to not paint items of the same color next to each other. For the stockings I used the following colors: red stocking – 856 and 847, blue stocking – 565, and green stocking – 249. For the ornaments I used 177, 526, and 856. I used 856 for the bows. For the patterns on the stockings and ornaments, I chose different patterns for each. (If you need inspiration for pattern ideas, try searching Google images.) For all of the white accents, I used Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White. For the ornament caps, I painted them gold (903 – Yellow Gold, Kuretake Gansai Tambi Starry Watercolors). Details were added back where needed with a brown or gray Twintone.

 

I die cut the tag, using the pencil lines as a guide. To create a mat, I drew a pencil line around the outside of the tag die onto a piece of red cardstock and cut out with scissors. Next I assembled the tag, adhering the painting to the mat and adding a red circle reinforcement. I heat embossed “Merry Christmas” onto a strip of red cardstock and die cut with a banner die. The sentiment was then popped up with foam and adhered near the bottom of the tag. I tied a bow with some sparkly gold ribbon and attached with a glue dot. The completed tag was then popped up with foam squares onto a red card base that I matted with embossed white snowflake paper.

 

For the interior of the card, I inked some greenery and berries in opposing corners. As a little bonus, I created a smaller tag using the same techniques as the tag on the front of the card.

     

Thank you for joining us for another Watercolor Weekend (and Merry Christmas!), until next time – Happy Painting

And now Tricia's card.

Hey watercolor fans, I have something a little different today.  I took some stills of my painting as it appeared.

First, I inked up the New Wooden Cabin foundation stamp with 969. I also added some 569 to the chimney and tree, other areas where I wanted to pull different colors in. I stamped it down and pulled the color out of the lines.  I added some additional color around the rocks.

I added some bushes and grasses.  I also added some flowers behind the rocks using a bit of masking to protect the rocks. I started layering my shadows.

Next, I pulled the color out of the lines and added some additional foliage to the tree.

Once that was done, I continued to add color to complete the scene. I used the foliage from the mini foliage set for the tree.

Next, I deepened the shadows and added additional color and details.  Lastly, I signed and dated

 

Once the painting was done, I cut it out with the die from the Journal Die set.  I mounted it onto some Denim Cardstock from Gina K Designs.  I added that to a card base. This was a great project to just let unfold in front of you.  I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, but I am quite happy with the end result.

Thanks for joining us and I hope you will share all of your projects with us.  Have a crafty day!

Happy crafting everyone and we hope you enjoy the Warehouse Sale.

Watercolor Weekend June 17, 2023

 Hello Ai Watercolor fans!

It's another Watercolor Weekend here on the Art Impressions blog and

I was blown away when I saw this week's cards!

Diane, Tricia and Karen never disappoint and this week,
went above and beyond.  Wait until you see what they've made.

This week, Diane is up first, with her adorable puppy wagon!

Hello, Ai Watercolor Weekend fans! With 4th of July just around the corner, I decided to create a Patriotic Celebration card. In addition to being a great “Happy 4th of July!” card, it could also make a nice July birthday card! 

 

To create this scene, I inked the wagon stamp from 5597 – Harvest Wheelbarrow Set in 565/969 and stamped off once before stamping onto my Canson XL watercolor paper. Next, I masked off the top edge of the wagon with some Post-It tape. I inked the puppy from 5722 – Birthday Journal Set with 969 leaving off the birthday hat and stamped to the left in the wagon. With a pencil, I sketched in the top of the puppy’s head and drew in a bandana. For the pot to the right, I inked just the pot from the stack of presents from the same set and placed into the wagon. I knew I would be cutting out this image later, so I traced an oval die from 5727 – Nested Oval Dies to frame my scene. Next I added a trio of overlapping balloons from 5722. With my scene complete, I used a damp brush and pulled out the stamped lines of the image to create shadows and contours. 

 

Before adding any color to the images, I brushed in a watery sky with 526. I wanted to keep the wagon white, so I used 565 to add shadows. The color palette for this scene is fairly simple. I chose 856 for the red and 555 blue. The greens are 177 and 249. For the wheels I used N25 black. For the puppy and the underside of the wagon I used 969. For the clay pot I selected 947. For all the white details I used Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White.

     

The flowers in the pot were stamped in using the rounded double flower from 5475 – WC Flower Set 6. For the greenery, I inked the vine from 4051 – Foliage Set 1 in 177. For the area under the wagon, I brushed in a watery base of 249. Grass and foliage was added with 177. To keep the center balloon white, I added a light shadow with 565. To make the red and blue balloons appear to be behind the white balloon, I added a very diluted mix of red and blue in the overlapping areas. For the exposed areas of the balloons, I applied multiply layers of red and blue. When adding the details to the balloons with white, I used it full stength on the outside edges. Where the white balloon overlaps, I diluted the white. I dotted in some tiny white flowers and added polka dots to the bandana. Using a gray Twintone marker, I added strings to the balloons. I added back details where needed with a brown Twintone. I die cut the flag banner from 5719 – FB Fence and Window Set, and painted the flags in blue and red. The banner was then popped up with foam squares. For the interior of the card, I die cut “Celebrate” from 5722.

 

Thank you for joining us for another Watercolor Weekend, until next time – Happy Painting!

Next up is Tricia with a gorgeous floral birdhouse card.

Hey watercolor fans!  Today I have an oldie but goodie.  I love this older stamp set.  It is a perfect non-gender all occasion show stopper!  Let me tell you how I created this card.

I started out by inking the large birdhouse with brown and blue. I stamped it off and then stamped it into the middle of my watercolor paper.  I didn't pull the color out of the lines because I wanted the leaves to be really soft and I wasn't sure how much of the pole would show.  Glad I did because I love how the flowers came out.  I left off a little of the top right of the roof so I could place the bird there.

Next I used the Cardinal stamp, without my positioner, inked up with brown, stamped it off, then stamped it onto the roof of the birdhouse. Using the small vine inked with green and stamped a few bunches around the base sides and right of the house.  I used a bit more water to soften just the ends of the leaves.  Once that was dry, I inked it up again with the bright green and stamped a couple of times over the soften leaves. This brightened them up.

I pulled the color out of the lines of the birdhouse and then added some additional color from my palette. I added some turquoise to the roof, making sure that sides are darker than the center. I also added some pink to the house, keeping the left and right dark.

For the bird, I added red, keeping the face light and building the color slowly, drying between each layer to get darker shadows. I used the N25 nib to draw in the cardinals face.

Using the daisy bunch, inked with purple, I stamped it a couple of times next to each foliage bunch. I added water to the purple and then once it was dry, added a detail darker layer to enhance the flowers.  Once that was dry I added yellow to the centers.

I also darkened the wood on the stand and to ground the birdhouse. I used my marker direct to paper to darken in those shadows. Lastly, I added some blue for the sky.  Don't overthink it, lots of water, drop in color, let it dry, there are no perfect clouds only beautiful organic ones!

Sign and date!  This was a quick and easy project that I had fun making. I hope you tag us so we can see your work. Head over to Instagram we can see what you create!

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a crafty day!

Our last watercolor artist this week is Karen.

You don't see popped up images too often in watercolor and I'm

not sure why because Karen showed us that it looks AMAZING!

Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

I'm using several sets for the first time, that were released a little while ago.  I wanted to create a scene where the sweet little gal is selling flowers, so this is what I came up with:

I started by stamping the 5569 - Handcart Set onto my Canson XL Watercolour paper with Tombow #969/565, and separately stamped 5717 - Little Girl FB.  After pulling the colour out from the lines, I picked a warm summer palette of colours, and started adding my flowers & foliage.  Using the Daisy bunch from 4052 - Flower Set, I added them in #925 and #407.  With the smallest image from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 and #725, and the tall stems from 4052 in #565, I filled in all the flowers.  The tiny sprig image from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set was stamped in both #126 and #312 as the foliage in both the cart and her basket.  Tones of browns #969/947/992 were painted on the cart trim & wheels, her basket, hat and shoes.  I wanted to add a sign to my scene, so I used the signpost from 5131 - Stone Path Set, altering it a little, and painting it in the same brown tones.  I used my Twintone Chocolate marker to write on the sign, and then cut it out.

N65 was painted onto the watering can, and as the white shadows on the cart, and #947 created the look of a terracotta pot.  The yellow of her dress and the banner on the cart are shades of #991, with some #992 shadows, and her skirt is #407.  I used the tiny grass from 4051 - Foliage set in #126 to add grass around the cart and sign, painting it out as a wash, and added a wash of #493 as the sky.

The background was cut out with 5061 Square Double Stitched Dies.  I cut the Little Girl out with her matching die, and fussy cut out my sign.  I attached them both to my base painting with foam adhesive, to make them both appear as if they are in the foreground.

Do you have the newest watercolor catalog?  It's filled with all sorts of wonderful inspiration.

Also, 4th of July is just around the corner!

Be sure to get the super cute new 5494 – Front Porch Patriotic Set.

Happy Watercolor Weekend everyone and Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there!

Watercolor Weekend 1-21-2023

 Hello Ai fans!

It's a Watercolor Weekend and our Watercolor Design Team has
some amazing cards to share with you today!

From Karen's Valentine mailbox, to Diane's bunny and basket full of hearts to
Tricia's gorgeous winter scene you will love them all!

This week Karen is up first.

Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

I'm doing a simple scene today to show you how to make a Valentine by using the stamps you have.

I stamped the mailbox image from 5575 - Mailbox Birdhouse Set in Tombow #969/565 onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper.  And used the same markers to add the bird from 5561 - Birds and Bugs Set.  I wanted to create a bunch of hearts spilling out of the mailbox, so with a pencil, I sketched the hearts, making them smaller as the floated away.  I also drew one tilted sideways in the bird's beak.  I used three of the blooms in 5008 - WC Flower set 3 coloured in #856/177 and stamped my flowers around the base of the wood stand.

After pulling out all of the colour with a damp brush, I used #761/856 to paint the hearts, keeping a lighter highlite area.  #993 was added to the flag, and shades of #969 were painted in streaks to suggest woodgrain on the base of the mailbox.  The sweet bird was painted with shades of #528, with a little #565 on the wing tips and as shadows.  With the two grasses in 5476 - WC Foliage Set 5, I added them under the flowers in #177/126, and blended them with my damp paintbrush.  I just lightly touched each bloom with my paintbrush to enliven the colour a little, but not enough to lose the definition of the petals.  A wash of #565 was added to the sky.  I hope you'll pull out some of your regular stamp sets and make them into something sweet for Valentine's Day!

Next up is Diane's sweet card.

Let’s get started. To create this card, I used the following Ai watercolor sets, Tombow markers, and dies:

⦁ 5521 – WC Animal Planters

⦁ 5574 – Door and Stocking Set

⦁ 4051 – Foliage Set 1

⦁ 4867 – Foliage Set 2

⦁ 5009 – WC Mini Flower Set

⦁ 5561 – Birds and Bugs Set

⦁ Tombow:  565, 969, 249, 177, 526, 725, 606, 856, 993, and N52

⦁ Art Impressions Dies: 5065 – Oval Doubled Stitched and 5344 – Envelope GHC

 

I began by inking the bunny planter stamp from #5521 with 969 then 565 but leaving off the area on the basket brim to save room for the bow. I stamped off on a scrap of watercolor paper before stamping onto my Canson XL watercolor paper. Next I inked the bow stamp from #5574 with 969 and 565 and stamped off before adding to the basket brim. Since the stamp is clear, it is easy to place. It fits perfectly! 

 For the hearts in the basket, I used the small heart die from #5344 as a template to draw around with a pencil. Working from front to back, I added the areas of the heart I wanted to show (left front, then behind it on the right and in the center behind the two in front). Once the hearts were drawn in, I lightly drew in the basket weave adding a slight curve to the lines to make it looked rounded. Now it was time to pull out some color from the stamped image with a damp #4 round brush to add shadows and depth.

 

Before adding color to the stamped image, I painted in the sky with a watery mix of 526. Next I stamped in the grass from #4051 using 177 and added water to pull out the blades of grass.

      Before adding the flowers and foliage to the basket, I cut out some heart masks from Post-It Labeling Tape to protect the hearts. For the flowers I chose the long stemmed flower bundle from #5009 and inked it with 177 for the stems and 606 for the petals. For the foliage, I used the leafy branch from #4867 in 177 and small leaf cluster from #5009 in 249. For the small pink heart-shaped flowers, I used the heart-shaped petals from #5009 in 725. Once all the flowers and foliage were in place, I then removed the masks and dabbed the flowers and foliage.

  I used 725, 606, and 856 to paint the hearts and 856 for the bow. For the basket weave and straps, I used 969. For the inside of the bunny’s ear and cheek I mixed 725 with a little 969 to tone down the color a bit. For the bee, I inked the stamp with N52. Next I used a black 01 Micron pen to go over the stripes. I pulled some color from the wings and added a touch of 526 near the base of the wings. For the body, I used 993 and the coordinating die to cut out the bee. To add back any detail that was missing, I used a brown #41 Twintone marker for the basket, straps, hearts, and bunny eye. For the bunny’s body and face, I used a gray #49 Twintone marker. As a final touch, I dotted in some white flowers to the basket and grass with Dr. Ph Martin’s Bleed Proof White. For the card, I die-cut the card front with an oval die from #5065 and adhered it with double-sided foam tape to the painting and then mounted it to a white A2 card base. Finally, I popped up the sweet little bee with foam tape and added it to the card to complete the scene.

This was a really fun card to make – the #5521 Watercolor Animal Planter Set is so versatile. Let your imagination run wild and create a sweet card for your special valentine! If you decide to give this one a go, please be sure to tag us on social media. We love to see your work! 

Last up we have a beautiful winter scene with a cardinal from Tricia.

Welcome Back watercolor fans! I hope you all are excited for all this weekends’ inspiration, I know I am. I am sharing my Winter Cardinal scene with you.  It only takes a couple of stamps to make this versatile project.  I think you could use this for any occasion as well.

 

I inked up the ladder image from the Harvest Scenes set (not inking the pumpkins or the top of the bird) with 969.  I did not stamp it off as I wanted it to be on the darker side. Using my positioner, I added the small water bucket from the Wishing Well set inked with 569 & 969.  I wiped off the top of the can and the right side to make room for the snow and pine bough.  Next, I pulled the color out of the lines and added some additional color from my palette. I added some 569 under the white areas to give the illusion of snow.

I drew the top of the cardinal with my pencil.  I added 856 to the bird and then using my black twintone I drew in his face and beak.  Next, I added the flowers and foliage and softened with my brush. I added some watered down blue to the sky. Lastly, I added some bleed proof white to the areas that I wanted snow.  And as always, sign and date.

 

Thanks for joining me today, I hope you have a creative weekend!

Thank you for joining us for another Watercolor Weekend!

Be sure to check out our newest challenge on the blog for your chance to win a free stamp set!

"Windows to the World"

Cards with windows on them.  It can be a WTTW set, a house or door with a window...a car, truck or plane.  Even just a window die.  If there's a window on it then it counts! Click the banner

to be taken to the challenge page.  You can always link to the challenge at the top of the page as well.

There's also a huge sale going on until tomorrow night 11:59 PM PST.

Get all of your Valentine stamps now so you have time to make your cards

before the big day! Click the photo to be taken to the sale.

Have a safe, fun, crafty weekend!