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Tag Archives | watercolor

Enchanted Mushroom Villa card

By KariV on May 27, 2014 in Paper Crafting

So for Memorial Day I made a card. You’d think it would be patriotic or red, white, and blue…but instead it turned into this Enchanted Mushroom Villa. No relation to Memorial Day!!

That’s because I’m playing along with the Paper Smooches Designer Drafts Challenge. Here’s the challenge designer draft:

My first thoughts were to design a moon, or a gumball machine, or a pizza. (And maybe I still will!) But the first stamp that jumped right out at me was this adorable mushroom house from the Fanciful Fall Paper Smooches set. I turned the designer draft upside down and created an enchanted mushroom villa! Here’s my card:

Here’s a close up of some of that glitter on the bee and the ladybug (those are from the Spring Fling Paper Smooches set, and so are the four-leaf clovers)

I wish these pictures were a little better, because in real life this card makes me SMILE! I have it on my desk in my craft room right now and I just love it.
I used Inktense watercolor pencil for the coloring/painting. And a bit of Wink of Stella on that “hi” die (from My Favorite Things).

Hope you enjoy!

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Sweet Bear card

By KariV on May 22, 2014 in Paper Crafting

I’ve been playing around with watercolors this week. I just received a new Paper Smooches stamp set in the mail…and I had to watercolor that bear! This one is a grizzly bear and he has stolen some poor camper’s marshmallows.

I’ve found that I LOVE to watercolor with distress inks. The ink pads, that is, because I don’t own the distress markers *YET.* But, my birthday’s coming up and guess what’s on the wish list? 😉

This originally started as a single layer card, I stamped the bear and then covered him up with rubber cement. After that dried, I painted the watercolor background. Then, I peeled up the rubber cement. I wasn’t happy with the results (it was my first try, after all, and I got some ink all over that bear!)

So I decided he needed to be popped up on the card, along with those marshmallows. Now it looks like he has multiple sticks of sweet, toasted marshmallows! Perfect.

I love the look of that watercolor!

Joining up with paper smooches sparks challenge this week: anything goes! (And there goes the marshmallows…ha!)

This card went to my Dad, who loves bears and is celebrating some sweet victories this week. Congrats, Dad, you are just awesome!!

Have a sweet day!

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Freehand Watercolored Cactus card

By KariV on May 17, 2014 in Paper Crafting

Homework from my online watercolor card class is to FREEHAND watercolor paint a card. Oh, boy! I normally would not choose this subject matter, but I have cactus on my mind because I’m thinking about a baby shower I’m helping with. And the theme is cactus. That should make for a very unique baby shower!

So, I started out freehand painting a prickly pear cactus with some bright pink flowers.

Yes, I think I need a little practice. But I certainly had fun with this one! I wanted to make the sky look like an Arizona sunset, but it really had a mind to be more stormy…surprise!

I’m going to keep working on this freehand watercoloring. I’m finding that I love working with not only watercolor paints, but also distress ink pads. Sometimes I throw in a bit of inktense watercolor pencils. And what I really love is the surprise of seeing how it all looks once it dries.

Well, cactus flowers…let’s give it another go. I’ll share more later!

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Watercolor & Keep Believing card

By KariV on May 9, 2014 in Paper Crafting

I’m still having a great time in the online watercoloring class! Today I played with a new Stamping Bella stamp, distress inks, and some silver stars. I used a technique to splatter on some ink to the background. I think it looks a little magical.

I actually tried this a couple times. Here’s my second card:

This time I made her blonde and added a silver glittery “hi” with a few more splatters by her wand. I just love this magical fairy stamp.

Which one do you like better?

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Watercolor with Distress Inks

By KariV on May 7, 2014 in Paper Crafting

You might find it funny that I created this “watercolor” card without using any watercolor or brushes! Instead, I was inspired by Laura Bassen and used Distress Inks and an acrylic block!

Oh, these distress inks create a beautiful and vibrant watercolored background! I used these colors of Distress Inks: Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, and Peacock Feathers. I love the results. And of course I had to add a glittery die cut “Hello.”

I’m loving this watercolor class right now, learning lots. I’m sure I’ll have more watercolor practice up soon!