It's one of the most beautiful times of the year for gardens when everything is bursting into bloom. Today I'm pairing up watercoloring with a gorgeous stamp to create a heartfelt card. I have really put my heart into this card as it's going to a special lady with terminal cancer. Get well soon just isn't appropriate in some cases and so I've gone with Thinking of You. I wanted to create a card to show I care and to brighten her room.
I'm loving this gorgeous Sketchy Blooms stamp from Stampendous. I'm so excited to get a chance to use it and it's so pretty, I can't wait to use it again. It's a fresh sketched style of a classic floral and I think its appropriate for almost every occasion.
The stamp is a fairly large image that will cover most of an A5 card front and the grey high quality rubber gives a beautiful crisp impression.
This stamp comes on a backing with a backing. I'm not quite sure how to explain it but don't try to peel the rubber off of the backing. There is a cling surface backing that adheres it to the acrylic block and you simply peel away the large backing and use the smaller one.
I'm using a 6x6 Prima watercolor pad for this project. I find that keeping the watercolor paper right on the pad will help prevent buckling as you work. This is a huge plus when making cards. You'll notice on this pad, and other high quality papers, that it will be sealed together on most sides to keep it all in place. Don't worry about the watercolor bleeding through. You'd have to use a TON of water for this to happen.
To start off with I added a water wash around my flowers to create the background and THEN added in some watercolor pigment using Peerless Watercolors. Keep dabbing in color until you get the desired look and allow to dry a little. The more you dry it, the less chance of pigment transfer. I ended up deciding that I love this look and went ahead and started adding in color with the background was still wet.
Add in light washes of color on the flowers on the leaves. Leave some areas white for highlights. Don't worry about getting detail in this step as it gets added in later.
Keep adding in color and detail until you get the look you want. In this image you can really see how some of the colors have bled out into the background for a very loose watercolor feel.
I love adding in speckles of color so I've added into some watercolor spots by flicking a wet brush over the design.
Once the painting was dry, I ran it through my Big Shot to give it nice neat and faux stitched edges and then adhered it to a Solar White Card Stock card base. The thinking of you sentiment comes from the Essentials by Ellen Mondo Hydrangea Stamp Set and is a beautiful script.
To finish it all off I added in some subtle shine with clear sparkling sequins adhered with Glossy Accents. All supplies are listed and linked below for your convenience.
Thanks so much for joining me today in the CLASSroom! Get inspired to pull our your watercolors and have a creative weekend!
Julia
Supplies:
