With turkey and mashed potatoes calling our name this Thursday in the USA, we are bringing you a beloved Watercolor Throwback for Watercolor Wednesday!
We have LOVED this project for a full year, with colorful pumpkins and a great Thanksgiving image! May you be transported to a field full of a grateful harvest. Watch as Bonnie masks in the single pumpkins from our WC Harvest Set into our Flower Cart and adds vines around the pumpkins still in the patch!
We switched to Tombow Markers in January 2019, and although this video uses Marvy Markers, we have included all the links below for the updated colors! You can also download our Color Conversion Chart to see similar colors from both product lines!
Happiest of Thanksgivings from all of us at Art Impressions! We are grateful for the most wonderful customers over the last 32 years!
Hello Ai friends! Today I have a watercolored card using the adorable WC Winter Kids Set.
It has been quite a while since I pulled out any of Art Impressions' watercolor stamp sets, and goodness me, I sure struggled. LOL! It's so true about continuing to practice in order to improve and and not struggle so much! This card is my "take five"! Yep, I have four other attempts in the trash can. The thing that really helps is going to Art Impressions' YouTube channel to see the videos that Bonnie does for all the watercolor sets. These videos are a great way to refresh, or learn, the watercoloring technique. Another awesome source of inspiration is the so talented Ai Watercolor design team--talk about beautiful cards! You can see their cards in the Watercolor board on Pinterest.
After my initial struggles, I pulled out my MISTI, laid out the stamps for my scene, and inked them up--success! The little bird is from the WC Bird Bath set. Before I did more, I used a pencil and ruler and drew a square approximately 3-5/8" around the images and put Post-It Tape around the outside of the square. Here are the steps for creating this card.
Ink the snowman image in first in Deep Blue-565, then Brown-879 on all parts except the snowman body, and stamp onto watercolor paper.
Ink the bird and lamppost in 879 first, then 565, and stamp.
I'm still limited with the Tombow marker colors I have, so I combined some colors to get the shade I wanted. For the red, I combined Wine Red-837 and Warm Red-885.
The snowman, snow, and sky is a combination of Deep Blue-565 and Imperial Purple-636.
The scarf, bird, and pants are Navy Blue-528.
The hat, snowman arm, and lamppost are Chocolate-969.
The light is a combination of Process Yellow-055 and Orange-933.
Once my watercoloring was finished I added some sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella pen. I decided to add some details to the scarfs, hat and boots using a Micron .005 black pen. I used a white gel pen to add snow all over. (I was going to use a Molotow masking pen before I started painting but found it not usable. I guess that's what happens when you have something for a long time and don't use it much.) I used my t-square ruler and a Tombow Twin Tone Navy pen to draw a frame around the image and to sign it.
This close-up shows some of the sparkle that is so hard to capture in photos.
The sentiment is from the Snow Friend set and I stamped it in a blue ink. I added foam tape to the back and adhered it onto a blue layer (from my stash). These were then added to a top-folding A2 card base.
Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a fabulous, crafty week!
Today I'm using some Tombow Markers to watercolor these shaky little critters from the Quivery Mini Shaker set. This set was made to use with the Action Wobbles and even includes a few to get you started on these fun interactive cards. It's October so I have to get in all those cute little Halloween cards before the month is up!
This set comes with the extra dies and stamps to create the bodies that are popped up from the Action Wobblers, which gives these critters extra dimension. I stamped all the critters and extras on to a piece of Ranger Watercolor paper using Versafine Clair ink. Then embossed with clear embossing powder.
For my coloring I used Tombow Markers, the colors I used are listed below. Coloring directly to the paper with the Tombow Marker, then blending out with a clean wet brush. I find it easiest to work quickly when using the markers directly to the watercolor paper, immediately blending out with the brush. Once I had the lightest colors down and all my areas were dry, I applied the darker colors the same way. Taking the marker directly to the paper and blending out with a clean brush.
I fussy cut the three characters out and used the coordinating dies on the pig and duck. Also die cutting a piece of navy card stock using the largest oval from the Oval Double Stitched die. I ran that oval through my die cutting machine several more times with the little star die form the Tagged Double Stitch die set. Then added some white splatter to the top of the oval and a bit of ink blending on the bottom half using Peeled Paint Distress Oxide. It's just enough to add some color.
After heat setting the distress oxide ink I used the "Happy Fright Night" sentiment and white heat embossed it. Adhering the oval to a Neenah Solar White 110lb card base and attaching the three animals on top. The Action Wobblers come with a release paper that you peel off. I attached the Action Wobblers to the back of the die cut bodies first, then peeled off the release paper on the other side and attached over the top of the large stamp image. Matching up the character shapes.
The Quivery Mini Shaker stamp set also comes with a couple of extra small dies. These dies don't have coordinating stamp but there is two sizes of bats, a pumpkin and a ghost die. I also added some shimmer and sparkle to the stars with a Wink of Stella pen. Perfect for the current Art Impressions challenge #267 Make it Sparkle!
Watercolor enthusiasts rejoice! We have FIVE new Watercolor sets available today at artimpressions.com! Bonnie's newest favorite is our WC Shoe Set, featuring footwear from baby to antique boots, which you can fill with your flowers and foliage. As we draw closer to the holiday season, Bonnie created a WC Winter Kids Set, with the littles dressed in their snow gear and one even giving a hug to a snowman. Use your critters or kids sets with our new WC Swing Set for nostalgic outdoor scenes. For our southwest friends, we included a WC Desert Set featuring cacti, an adobe house, tall grasses, rocks, and twigs. You can also use the WC Mountain Set plateaus with our Desert Set, or add a snowy mountain in the background of your watercolors! The possibilities are endless!
Watch the video below, as Bonnie introduces the summer release and all her favorite details. You can add all five sets to your collection at artimpressions.com!
Let's take a look at what the designers have created today! Remember, you can visit the designer's blog or social media by clicking the pink links by their name - and give them a follow while you're there for more inspiration in your feeds!
Have you seen Art Impression's brand new stamps 5194 - WC Shoe Set? There are 6 different shoes! I actually had these little white leather shoes for all three of my sons, long ago, when they were babies. Some people even had them bronzed and mounted on a plaque. I stamped the shoes in two colors, first the 969 then the 565. I stamped them off on scratch paper first and then pulled the color out of the lines. I added the foliage from the 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4 in 177 and 249. I stamped the longest ones in 105 lt. teal for the girl card and in 993 for the boy card. I stamped the heart flowers from the 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 in 725 for the girl card and in 526 for the boy card. I used 565 to paint the shadows under and on the shoes. I stamped the shoe again in random orientations all over the background using Memento grey ink. I stamped the long stem flower all over both cards as well. I used the 5072 - Block Letters Die Set to cut out the words "girl" and "boy" and ran the letters through a Xyron Create-a-Sticker. I used the 5063 - Rectangle Double Stitched Dies to cut out the background pieces and the watercolored pieces to complete my cards.
I had the idea to combine these two sets on my projects, so decided to use the tire swing from 5195 WC Swing Set, the mountains from 5198 WC Mountain Set, and created a scene around them. I first sketched out my idea on scrap paper to determine exactly where I wanted things to be - nothing worse than being half way through a scene like this, and stamping your mountains too high! It also helped me determine that my tree swing would be up on a hill overlooking a lake and the mountains beyond. I started by diecutting my Canson XL watercolour paper with the 3 3/4" x 5" Rectangle Double Stitched Die, and I sketched in my tree with a pencil. Using #N45 Cool Grey 10, I coloured and stamped the tire, and then masked it. With my stamp positioner, I placed the little girl from 5053 WC Little Girls Set, coloured in #992 Sand. With my #1 paintbrush, I added #850 Flesh to her skin, and #899 Redwood to her hair. With the fine point of the #992 marker, I added short sleeves to her t-shirt. #565 Deep Blue was painted as her jeans, and after adding more water to it, I used it to add shadows. I added several layers of the N45 to the tire to build up the colour, creating it darker on the underside of it. Next I stamped the mountains, after colouring them with 2nd generation #565, and a layer of #533 Peacock Blue over top. I used my damp #4 paintbrush to soften the lines and pull out the colour to add shading to the mountains. I painted in the hills in front of them, and the lake - pulling the colour from my palette, and used a light wash for the sky. I used my Twintone marker in #41 Chocolate to outline my tree, and added a few texture lines to the trunk. I painted shades of #969 Chocolate over the entire tree, keeping it darker on the undersides of the branches, and added #565 as shadows. With the large leafy image from Foliage Set - 4051 coloured in #158 Dark Olive, I added greenery on either side of the swing, and softened it by dabbing with a damp brush. I also used the Jumbo Grass stamp with #158 stamping it multiple times, then using the colour from them to paint a suggestion of a grassy bank. I picked up #992 from my palette and painted in the shore line around the lake. And finally, to add leaves to the trees, I used the larger leafy image from 4867 - WC Foliage Set 2 New. Oh - and the last step was to use a fine point grey marker to draw in the chain of the tire swing. I matted my image with a light kraft cardstock, and used pop dots to mount it on some textured dark grey cardstock. Tricia O'Bin - Blog - Instagram - YouTube - Pinterest - Facebook
First I inked up the entire cactus from the NEW Desert Set with 126. I then added some 249 to just the areas I wanted to be a little darker. I stamped it towards the bottom right hand side. Next, I masked it off, re-inked it with the same colors and stamped it to the left of the first one but down a little. I pulled the color out of the lines.
I inked up the southwest house with 969 and stamped it to the left of the cacti close to the middle of the paper. I masked it off and stamped the Large mountain from the NEW Mountain Set inked with 969. I also used the same smaller mountain inked in 969 and stamped it a little up and to the right. I wanted it to appear to be further back. I pulled the color out of the lines, making sure to leave white highlights. I pulled some additional color underneath the mountains to give them some depth.
I added some 565 to my palette and added it between the mountains for a small river flowing between the mountains. I added 969 to my palette and added some additional ground around the river and darkened beneath the mountains. I added some 969 and 847 to the small grass and stamped it on either side of the house. I pulled the color up and out of the lines. I added water to the house making sure to make the left really dark. I pulled color out of the lines around the house. I continued to add 969 from my palette to create more ground.
I added some 969 to the small rocks and placed them to the left in the white space. I pulled the color out of the lines making sure to leave a highlight. I added some pink to the cactus and added water. I replaced the mask on the cactus, inked up the other cactus in the set with 177 and using my positioner stamped it to the right of the cactus. I pulled the color out of the lines and added some additional 126. I added the small cactus near the rocks and pulled the color from the lines. Using my fine tip, I added some dark shadows beneath the house and softened them with water. I continued to add 969 and 847 to the ground.
Finally I used some 565 watered down to create clouds in the sky. Lastly, I signed it.
Thanks, team! Your projects are so inspiring and fun to see in your unique styles!
For our new challenge, we want to see you try watercoloring stamping! You can watercolor the art impressions way or another watercolor stamping technique, we can't wait to see!
Here are the Challenge Rules...
✻ Please make a new card or creation. You can make any crafty item you wish; this is not limited to cards!
✻ Limit two submissions per person. You will receive extra votes if you use Art Impressions stamps!
✻ The Ai Challenge is open to everyone, international submissions are welcome!
✻ Include a link back to the Ai Blog or grab our button on the top right of our sidebar!
✻ Share the Ai love by clicking and commenting your fellow crafters.
✻ Make sure to get your link up by the deadline to enter your creations.
Reeta!
Congrats, Reeta! We love your Perfect Duet singing on this easel card with pretty pink and red gingham paper! Such a sweet anniversary card! Email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address to claim your prize pack!
Congrast, you two! Mary Ann, we love how you created a nostalgic card with your class WC Truck image! Thanks for joining us in class at Scrapbook Expo! And Helen, we love your blue-toned gingham with this snowy scene with our retired Whoots set! Too cute. Email annelise@artimpressions.com with your address and a stamp set of your choice!
We hope to see your entires and more in our new challenge! Have an awesome weekend! Happy Stamping!
Bonnie and Kate are back from our most recent trade show, so this week we are throwing back to a beloved video from September 2016! We wanted to feature this Birch Trees video, as it is a great example of scene building and how to create a forest scene.
Bonnie created this beautiful birch tree scene with stamps from our new Covered Bridge set! You will love how Bonnie creates rolling hills and a small stream by grabbing color from her Watercolor Palette. You will add dimension with multiple colors of leaves and shrubs, all only using 4 stamps!
We absolutely love it when you leave us a comment over on YouTube! Hop over there and let us know what you love about this tutorial. We appreciate you watching and a big thank you to everyone sharing such kind feedback on our videos!
