It's Impression Obsession week here in the CLASSroom and I've been enjoying all the beautiful creations. How about you? One of the things I love about Impression Obsession stamps and dies is the attention to detail. The designs are simply fabulous!
Today my creation features a beautifully ornate die frame and sentiment. They are so stunning in themselves the challenge was how to create a design that was beautiful but didn't take away from the inherent beauty of the product.
I decided that a lovely watercolor background was really in keeping with the scripture sentiment and a lovely fresh and on trend technique.
The Ornate Oval Frame is a beautiful die set. I love how it can be layered and pieced together for different looks. The Impression Obsession sentiment is lovely script stamp called He Made Everything by Lindsay Ostrom. They pair up beautifully!
First of all to start my project I die-cut the Ornate Oval Frame from Solar White Cardstock. When you die-cut it, it will give you four pieces. I've used the outer two on this design and set the other pieces aside for another project.
Next comes the sentiment. I've stamped it on watercolor paper with Jet Black Archival Ink by Ranger. It's my very favorite ink ( I think I say that every week but it's true!) and it's perfect for watercoloring with. I like to heat set the ink for added assurance but once dry, it should never run or smear.
Next up I pulled out some of my Peerless Watercolors and a brush. I didn't even use a palette for this project. A watercolor background is oh so simple. But make sure that you only try this with watercolor paper. No other will do!
To create the background, first you start by simply adding WATER without pigment over the areas you want to paint. You need it fairly wet.
Then pick up watercolor pigment with a wet brush and add it into the water. I've used a yellow, pink and a blue and allowed the colors to mix. That's why you want it quite wet so that they will run and blend and make new colors. One thing to note is to not mix up the colors too much. You don't want the yellow, pink and blue all in one area as they will mix together to make MUD. Yuck. Keep adding color until you get a nicely pigmented look but don't overwork it. Some white spaces really look great in the design. If you get the look you want and are worried about further blending, simply apply heat with a heat tool and dry it quickly.
Once the watercolor is REALLY dry, then you can add some white gel pen accents to the script text to add in highlights and extra interest.
Adhere the frame die cuts in place. I've used two right next to each other as I needed the visual weight to make it stand out enough.
Adhere the watercolor layer to a card base. I always use a VERY strong adhesive when working with watercolor paper. I find dry adhesives don't always hold this porous paper well and a wet adhesive usually is best.
All you need for embellishments are a very simple Maya Road Paper Flowers, some hemp twine and some Sparkling Sequins.
Are you an Impression Obsession fan? Take a peek at the amazing selection in the Ellen Hutson shop and get inspired to create!
Thanks so much for joining me today in the CLASSroom!
Julia
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