We are excited to welcome Rubeena to the CLASSroom today! Rubeena's use of color, particularly when she watercolors, caught our eye! Today she will share some of her tips and tricks as she showcases the gorgeous Peony in our Essentials by Ellen Mondo Series and Concord & 9th's delightful images and sentiments.
You can learn more about Ruby on her blog A Rare Ruby. A fun series she has going on is her Guesting with Ruby Naz where Rubeena interviews crafty colleagues and shares their projects. It is so very fun learning about each artist and what it is that they enjoy!
Be certain to help us share some love with Rubeena for sharing her creativity with us here in the CLASSroom over on her blog A Rare Ruby. Look for the post that shows a sneak peek of the project below along with a special giveaway we have for you there. Please leave Rubeena a comment before September 19th for a chance to win a $50 coupon to use in our store!
Thank you Rubeena for sharing your passion for watercolor with us here today! -Ellen
Coloring with watercolors has been a really enjoyable pastime for me in the last few months. I find myself reaching for them more often than any other coloring medium. It is easiest because all the colors needed are in one palette and the brush can be cleaned easily with water. One of the hard things about using watercolors is controlling how much pigment or water you use. Let me share with you one of my favorite combinations - using clear embossing powder and watercolors.
For today's cards, I used Distress Ink cubes as my watercolor medium. Ellen Hutson carries a wide range of watercolors, but many crafters use Distress Ink because of how they react to water even after they're dry.
Here's a look at the colors I started with for my first card.
I began by stamping Ellen Hutson's newest set Mondo Peony by Julie Ebersole on Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock. The images in this set are big and beautiful! I stamped using VersaMark ink and added clear embossing powder, which I heat-set with the Hero Arts Embossing Gun. Always be sure to use the Powder Tool Adhesive Deactivator on your paper surface to eliminate static cling before embossing. I also stamped the big image from Concord & 9th's You're My Person onto a second watercolor panel and heat-set with clear embossing powder. This makes it easy to set aside time to color both panels.
I used the following Distress Ink colors for both panels: Ripe Persimmon, Festive Berries, Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive, Cracked Pistachio, Lucky Clover, Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon, Vintage Photo, and Antique Linen. Stamping the sentiments in black and white make a really beautiful contrast to the rainbow panels. For one of the sentiments, I stamped with the Ranger Archival Ink Pad in Jet Black because it stamps so crisp! For the other sentiment, I used VersaMark ink and white embossing powder on black cardstock.
Watercoloring a big flower image is fun. I used three colors for the Mondo Peony and two for the leaves.
I really love how the black pops with the bright background.
Look at how beautiful the orange and pink go together.
For my second card, I used smaller images to show that this technique still works. The blue on this card seems to stand out against the rainbow colors and the black definitely pops!
A closer look at the colors:
When you want to create gorgeous cards with loose watercolors, try heat embossing with clear or white embossing powder. It creates a resist for the watercolors. Although this method is not new, I hope you're still feeling inspired. Thank you so much for visiting! Let me know your thoughts about embossing and watercolors. Thank you -Rubeena :)
