Hi there my little #TexturalTuesdays family. :) It's Lisa back with ya today and we have some fun stuff on The CLASSroom blog today. This week the team is featuring Mama Elephant and Molotow here in The Classroom and I'm doing the very same thing in my own little 'ol way.
The Molotow Masking Pens were a new animal to me. While I've used all sorts of sticky notes, pieces of paper, specialized making paper...I've never used masking FLUID. So this was very new. And took awhile for me to get used to. Not gonna lie.
I stamped my words "Oh Happy Day" from the Mama Elephant set Oh Happy Birds onto watercolor paper (smooth side) using Versafine Onyx Black. Since this Ink can take a bit to dry I like to give it a quick zap with my heat tool.
Then I went ahead and used the Masking Pen to outline the sentiment and made sure it was all filled in. After I was sure the masking fluid was dry I started to water color.
I love to use the Kuretake Gansai Tambi water colors. The vibrancy of the colors and how many different looks you can achieve with these colors make these one of my go-to sets to use. Loading up my brush with color, applying it to the paper, then adding water and watching it flow is just mesmerizing to me. There are so many ways to use these pans of paint: from backgrounds (my favorite) to actual coloring, abstracts (splatter effects), you are limited only by your imagination.
After I was done with the background, it was time to remove the masking fluid! I used a white eraser. Not all of it came off cleanly. I also used a cloth to rub some of it off. And it took some elbow grease. In some areas I could see where color had still seeped through. In those areas I watered down a bit of Gesso and painted over it. Easy fix.
(See how messy it looks?! Yikes!! Untouched, for your appreciation.)
I then decided I really, really didn't like the way the sentiment looked. This is what WE artist's do, right? ;) So, I broke out my Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Bokeh Dots by Julie Ebersole and stamped the largest "fussy circles" around the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black. Then I heat set that using Wow! Clear Gloss Super Fine Embossing Powder. Of course, now my circles were beautiful and shiny and my sentiment wasn't. So, I used the MISTI to fix that. I would have screamed if I screwed up!! Everything that could have gone wrong did already. (2 broken trimmers, yes TWO! My photography lights? Burned out. Water spilled. Paper doing weird things. You name it? It happened on this card. Seriously. It's hexed.) I was so happy the sentiment lined up perfectly for me to stamp and emboss I just HAD to celebrate with chocolate!!
(Look how pretty it looks NOW!!)
Then I used the cutie little half floral banners from the same Mama Elephant set, colored them in, and die cut them out. Another ordeal, but you don't have all day to read about all my hiccups, do ya? I put some of the small little 3D Foam adhesive to pop 'em up. So cute!
Cut some of the wonderful Essentials by Ellen 40 lb Vellum and place behind the water-colored piece. I used more of the 3D Foam Adhesives for dimension. Attach a strip of Lawn Fawn Let's Polka In the Meadow (Black White Stripe) and silver glitter tape to the side before adhering to the base card of Bazzill Gummy Bear.
And, as usual, here's some slightly different views!
One more...just for kicks.
Thank you for joining me today! I hope you like how the card turned out. And also like learning through my mistakes. LOL!! Enjoy your week ahead. ♥