Watercolour Technique (Blog Hop)

It's Christmas in July everywhere you look these days, so I was inspired to add a twist to our blog theme this month!  Our focus this month is on techniques and I had to use my very favourite technique--watercolouring--on this Christmas card.

I repurposed my Good Morning Magnolia stamp into a poinsettia!  

I heat embossed the flower image in gold and then used several ink colours to add depth and dimension.  This really is the EASIEST way to watercolour.  The heat embossing keeps the water and ink contained so you never colour outside the lines!

I layered the coloured and die cut image on a Forever Gold Laser Cut frame (with a rectangle of white cardstock behind to help it pop), and put it all on a card base of Shaded Spruce.  

Some added gems helped anchor my sentiment as well as provide the sparkle every Christmas card needs.

I kept the inside of my card simple with some more gold embossing.

For some added fun I decided to watercolour a matching envelope!  I used my (retired) Envelope Punch Board to create the envelope out of watercolour paper, and repeated the gold embossing and colouring on the front and back.

I think this will make a wonderful holiday surprise for someone when it really is Christmas. ;)

Please continue hopping along to see all the other wonderful techniques showcased this month:

A La Cards (Leena)

LollyandSand (Sandy)

SimpLeigh Stamping (Leigh)

Stampingjen.BlogSpot.com (Jennifer)

Free Blooming Basket Card & Stamping Symphony Blog Hop

Good Morning, and happy March Break!  It's been a busy one at my house, and I am late for my blog hop!!!  Sorry about that!

This month's theme was embossing, and I am thrilled with how my final card turned out.

I used my Simply Scored scoreboard to score a diamond pattern on a piece of 5.25" x 4" Whisper White cardstock.  I placed a pretty pearl at the intersection of each line to highlight the pattern.

My central image is from the new Sale-A-Bration stamp set Blossoming Basket--it is so pretty an only available until the end of the month, so get yours before it is gone!  I stamped the basket on a piece of vellum in Versamark ink and silver embossing powder.  I then used my Stampin' Write markers to colour in the flowers and leaves, which left a pretty, soft look to the image.

Here's a closer look:

I fussy cut around the image and adhered to my card front with lightly applied Tombow adhesive.  It just melts into the background and you really have to look to see that it isn't stamped directly onto the card.

I stamped my sentiment (from the same stamp set) on a piece of Thick Whisper White cardstock in Basic Black, and handcut the ends into flags.  I adhered it to the front of my image with some dimensionals (of course!).

I once again left the inside of my card sentiment-free, but that doesn't mean leaving it undecorated! :)  I repeatedly stamped a small portion of the basket image on a strip of watercolour paper with Versamark, carrying it across the full 5.5" width of my card, and then added more silver embossing powder and heat set.  I then used my ink pads and aquapainter to colour in the image, and adhered it to the bottom of the inside of the card base.

I love the washed out look of the watercolour combined with the shimmer of silver embossing, it turned out just as I had hoped!

I hope you are spending some of your March break crafting too!  And keeping a better eye on the clock than I am!  :)

Please keep hopping to see what my teammates created this month!

A La Cards (Leena)

LollyandSand (Sandy)

JustBStamping (Barb--you're here!)

Stampingjen.BlogSpot.com (Jennifer)

Hofkissed (Stephanie)

If you are interested in earning this stamp set for Free, please message me and I can give you all the details.

Have a great day,
Barb

Growing Old(er) with Humor

I don't know about you, but I stopped counting my birthdays several years ago.  I didn't, however, lose track of the count for those people who are, and will always be, older than me!  The way I see it, the only way to feel better about getting old is to make fun of the people who get there before you.  :)  Kind of like a bait and switch. 

My second oldest sister celebrated her birthday last week and this was a prime opportunity to have some fun!  I knew just the stamp set I wanted to use: the Five for All set has a bunch of fun sentiment pairs to make any birthday a little easier to take.  Once I had decided which one I was going with, I knew exactly how I wanted the completed card to look.



I thought the sentiment alluded to the big philosophical question most of us face as we get older, so I wanted to make the card reflect that sort of "big picture" thinking.  I inked a street scene in Whisper White on Basic Black cardstock using the In the City hostess set, and then white embossed the first half of the sentiment below.  I sponged the light glow in Crushed Curry just above the sky line of the buildings.  Then I sponged the night sky in Night of Navy, letting it naturally get lighter as it got closer to the skyline.  It's hard to see in the picture but I added some sparkly stars with my Wink of Stella pen. The street scene is attached to the night sky with dimensionals, and then the whole thing is matted to some silver glimmer paper before adding it to the Night of Navy card base.

The inside sentiment reads "...like 'Why did I walk into this room?'".  Funny, because I know I do that all the time!!  And I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.  There's nothing quite as demoralizing as standing in front of a filing cabinet seriously trying to remember what you walked two feet to get!  And there are so many more great funny sentiments in this set, and not just about getting older, so I know I'm going to get lots of use out of it.

Now for some news:  I am very excited to be joining the Tri-City Stampers Blog Hop this month!  Stay tuned for my post later this week (Friday) and then please make sure you check out the other blogs, as they always have amazing work to showcase.

See you Tuesday!
Barb


Product List

Five For All Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[143784]

In The City Photopolymer Stamp Set

[143771]

Silver Glimmer Paper

[135314]

Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[121045]

Night Of Navy 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[100867]

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[100730]

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

Sponge Daubers

[133773]

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

[131173]

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad

[126970]

Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad

[101731]

White Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109132]

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]