1 card, 2 challenges.

Today I am entering my card into the WPlus9 Birthday Celebrations Trend Watch challenge and 52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 8. I am using the sketch from 52 cards and have taken water colouring and enamel dots from the trend watch challenge to make my card.

Stamps - Wplus9 and PTI. Ink - Memento/PTI. Enamel Dots - MME

I decided to finish this card at about 3am which is why the stitching is a tad wonky and needed to be covered with an enamel dot ;) 

Happy Sunday,

Ang.

Ways with Watercolours - Techniques

I have been exploring some more with watercolours since my previous posts and thought it would be a nice idea to share the techniques with you that I have learned over the past week. This is a super long post from me!

First, here is the card that I am most pleased with. I completely cased the card and technique from the wonderful Betsy Veldman as seen here. I stamped and embossed my image using white embossing powder onto watercolour paper, I then generously applied distress inks in 5 different colours over the image, deliberately going over the lines. Once you have completed this, spray the whole piece with a mini mister to make the inks bleed prettily like watercolours and leave to dry. So easy, right?

There are many ways that you can achieve watercolour effects, even if you don’t own any! Let’s run through a few;

 Ink Pads. You can turn any dye ink pad into a watercolour medium. Stamp your ink pad on to a craft sheet/acrylic block/glass tile and pick the colour up with a wet paintbrush. I like this method if I want to watercolour a small element quickly. Distress Inks are made for this, however I use all of my dye ink pads for this method and re-inkers are fantastic.

·         Brush Pens. Brush the colour onto the stamp with your pen, spritz the stamp with water and stamp or stamp and spritz the paper with water or use the ink pad method. This is how I first learnt to watercolour stamp when I started crafting a number of years ago. My Marvy le Plume pens are still going strong!

·         Watercolour Pencils. Well, obviously these are great for this, however I also like to use the shavings when I sharpen the pencil to create paint for a ‘wash’ when I am in a pinch and can’t find a specific colour.

·         Chalks. I have quite a few palettes of chalk cubes which I rarely use. For best results, spritz the chalks a few minutes prior to use and then use a wet paintbrush to thoroughly wet the cube then paint. Leave the chalks to dry and they can be used again for their original purpose.

·         Gelatos. These can be used directly on paper and then you would go over it with a wet paintbrush. I like to slice some of the gelato off the stick on to a Pringles lid, add a little water and ‘smush’ the water into the paint to create a thick paste, this can then be watered down. I’ve had great success adding mica powders to these, and the other great thing? Leave it in the lid to dry and simply wet to reuse, you can make your own custom colour palettes by mixing the gelato colours!

·         Spray Inks. Spray on your sheet and use the ink as is or add a little water.

·         Alcohol Inks. Drop some ink on a non stick craft sheet and go in with a wet paintbrush. This is good for very pale washes.

·         Eyeshadow. I like to use old eye shadows by scraping off some of the powder on to a craft sheet and adding water. I have found that most shadows contain mica so they will add a shimmer to your finish. I picked up some vibrant matte purple and green shadows cheaply that create a really bright effect when used in this way.

·         Food Colouring. Obviously this is an old school staple, I loved mixing my own colours to use when I was a kid, although I find that when you do mix them they tend to turn a sludgy colour. Gel food colouring is even better, especially if you want bold colour.

I am sure that there are many more, these are just the ones that I have acquainted myself with.

This one is easy peasy and super quick. White embossed sentiment washed over with different watercolour paints.

I hope this post inspires you to give watercolours a try, you'll be so glad you did!

Thanks for stopping by,
Ang.

Working with Watercolours

As you may have seen from my previous post, I have just discovered the fun of using watercolours with my stamping and WPlus9 has a great step-by-step guide on one of the ways to do this, playing along, I decided to use the lovely Merry and Bright stamp set and dies.

Card - Bazzill. Watercolour Paper - Winsor and Newton. Ink - Memento.

Simply stamp your stamp on to your ink pad, you can then either take a mini mister or a wet paintbrush and spray/brush across the surface then stamp! Easy! I need to work some more on this card to balance it out a little better. It's a fun technique and so easy to do, so much so that I have decided to experiment some more. I have a couple more cards that are currently drying that I will post later!

Ang

Papertrey Ink 7th Anniversary Celebration - Part 2

As you may have read I am taking part in Papertrey Ink's 7th anniversary celebrations, read more about it here. This challenge is to create a 3x4 Monthly Moments trading card and here is my attempt.

Card - American Crafts. Watercolour Paper - Winsor and Newton.

Umbrella and Sentiment - Papertrey ink. Twine - American Crafts.

This has been my first experiment with watercolours, it was so much fun but I have so much to learn, I have seen some great tutorials on Pinterest that look helpful that I must look into!

Thanks for stopping by,

Ang.

WPlus9 Monday Mood Board #26

I managed to rustle up a card for WPlus9's Monday Mood board,, isn't the inspiration picture so pretty?

Paper-MME. Stamps-WPlus9. Doily dies - MFT and Cheery 

Lynn. Ink - Memento. Lace - Dainty Paperie.

I liked the wooden boards so used some wood print paper and a little white pigment ink to recreate the look from the picture. I finished it off with Fresh Cut Florals and the sentiment on a small MFT doily.

I haven't done much crafty shopping for a while but was happy to find Studio Calico wood veneers at my local Homesense and TKMaxx for £1.99 a pack and cute little American Crafts glitter pegs for the same price.

I have been wanting to experiment with watercolours for a while but haven't found a set at a reasonable price so it wouldn't be too bad if I don't get on with them, however, I did pick up this set today for £4.99. I can't wait to start playing!

Happy Sunday :)
Ang