Monday, June 15, 2015

Watercoloring with Best Thoughts

One of the exclusive hostess sets in the new 2015-16 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog is called Best Thoughts, and it features two beautiful images and two sweet sentiments.  The images are line art, so lend themselves nicely to watercoloring.  Here are a few cards I've created using this set plus the new 2015-17 In Colors:


This first card is my first attempt at the Borderless Watercoloring technique.  I stamped the images in Tip Top Taupe on Watercolor Paper, then watercolored using Watermelon Wonder and Delightful Dijon on the flowers, Cucumber Crush on the stems, Tip Top Taupe and Watermelon Wonder on the butterfly and Mint Macaron in the background.  The greeting is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black. The card base is Mint Macaron, and on top of that is another layer of Mint Macaron, which I embossed first with the Woodgrain folder and then with the Modern Mosaic folder.  A bit of the Watermelon Wonder 1" Dotted Lace Trim wraps around the embossed card stock.


On this card, the images are stamped in Tuxedo Memento Black ink, the card base is Cucumber Crush, and I embossed a Cucumber Crush layer using first the Woodgrain folder and then the Lovely Lace folder.  I only added a hint of the Watermelon Wonder to the flower petals.


This last card has a Mint Macaron base, a Mint Macaron layer on top of that, embossed with the Lovely Lace folder.  The flowers are stamped in Tuxedo Memento Black, and colored with Delightful Dijon for the petals and Watermelon Wonder on the centers.  The leaves and stem are colored in Mint Macaron.  The "Hello" is from the Crazy About You stamp set.  The greeting banner and Mint Macaron banners layered under it are cut with the Triple Banner Punch.  The little flower next to the hello is cropped out of Delightful Dijon card stock using the flower from the Itty Bitty Accents Punches.  I stamped the center with an image from Summer Silhouettes in Watermelon Wonder ink.  Not really visible in this photo, but I added Crystal Effects on both the watercolored flower centers and the punch art flower center for a bit of dimension.

Hope you enjoyed these cards!  Thanks for visiting!

- Michelle


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Michelle!!!

Absolutely beautiful cards!!! I love all of the extra detail that you have done on these! How do you do the 'Borderless Watercolor Technique? Or what does that mean?

Thank you for the inspiration!!

Barbara

Michelle VanWiggeren said...

Hi Barbara,
Thanks for your sweet comment!!! The "Borderless Watercolor Technique" is one where you stamp your image in a light color and then watercolor. I think you are not actually supposed to see the lines when you finish . . . so I guess my card is an imperfect example of that technique, but I still like how it turned out! ;) To see a better example and video tutorial, please see this blog post by Lydia of Understand Blue: http://understandblue.blogspot.com/2015/05/a-theory-about-feline-echolocation.html

Thanks,
Michelle