PEACEFUL PIER WATERCOLOR

I couldn't share cards this week with the Peaceful Pier Stamp Set without trying to watercolor a scene.  I'm still debating a bit on how I feel about it.

I love to try to create pretty nature scenes on cards, but my style is also to have a lot of dimensional layers, details and embellishments.

From that perspective, this card is very different for me and differs from what I am comfortable with.  This card has minimal layers and pieces and zero embellishments!  Believe me, I tried!  But nothing looked right.

I used the dock from the stamp set for the first time this week. 

The card was made using two basic techniques.  The background (water, sky and sand) was watercolored with a Water Painter and Reinkers.  I did that first.  I left a lot of white space to provide the appearance of depth and dimension.

Then I used the selective inking with Stampin' Write Markers to ink the stamps and stamp over the water coloring once it was dry.

I used a positioning tool to stamp the trees and the dock with grass.  That way I could ink the stamps with various colors and stamp them multiple times in the exact same place until I got the intensity of color that I wanted.

I did stamp the dock a second time on Watercolor Paper and color it with Pecan Pie Stampin' Blends.  Then I fussy cut the dock and adhered it over top of the dock I stamped on the card.  I used rolled-up glue dots to provide just a little lift.  

Since the grasses are on the same stamp as the dock, I didn't want the dock lifted too much.  I tried it with dimensionals first, but the extra lift made the grass look strange.  Think of this process sort of like using the Paper Piecing Technique.

To finish the card, I added clear Wink of Stella to the water to give it some shimmer and added a simple sentiment.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the card.  What does it need?  I feel like it needs something!

Use this link to download a tutorial.

A list of the products I used is shown below.

Product List

Peaceful Pier Cling Stamp Set (English) [165331]	Balmy Blue 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146982]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [121045]	Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper [149612]
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [166780]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Pecan Pie Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [161674]	Brights Stampin' Write Markers [161696]
Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers [161697]	Regals Stampin' Write Markers [161699]	Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker [162481]	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [147168]
Crumb Cake Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [121029]	Azure Afternoon Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [161668]	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897]	Water Painters [168253]
Clear Block D [118485]

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ANCIENT HOME REVIVAL

My last card for this week with the In the Country Stamp Set again features the old house--at least I've been calling it a house, but it could probably be whatever you want it to be.  Maybe I should have invited Bob Vila in for an update as it does look a little decrepit.

For today's card, I chose to use water coloring for the image and the background.

At least for me, water coloring is "less precise" because I can't always control where the water wants to go.  So, for this particular image, I thought water coloring might work well because, honestly, I couldn't always figure out what was going on everywhere in the image either.  LOL

I could see that there were vines and flowers scattered around the walls, but the exact distinction of leaves vs. flowers is less clear.

With water coloring I thought I could "fudge" what I didn't know, so that is what I did.

After finishing the building, I used my Water Painter to give a color wash to the ground and the sky.  I colored the ground first with Old Olive, and then checked my Color Coach to see what color blue worked best with the Crumb Cake House and Old Olive grass.  My "Coach" told me I should use Night of Navy.  Well, I was a little concerned that it would be way too dark, so I added plenty of water to my Night of Navy ink, and then I started color washing the sky.  I couldn't figure out why my Night of Navy sky seemed like it had green in it, and then I remembered that while I was so busy worrying about watering down the Night of Navy ink, that I had forgotten to clean my Water Painter after coloring the grass.  As a result, I got some green streaks and tones in the sky.  But I'm calling it my "Happy Mistake" because I actually think the little bit of green adds some interest to the sky. 

What do you think?

For the inside of the card, I just stamped a portion of the old house with Black Memento Ink in the lower left corner.  I'd had enough coloring by this time, so decided to just leave it as the black outline.

Simple card insides are fine.  Just make sure they aren't naked!  We spend so much time making our card fronts pretty that we don't want to have our insides feel left out.

If you would like a tutorial for today's card, you can download a copy at this link.

Below is a list of the Products used for this card.

Product List

In The Country Cling Stamp Set [160828]	Happy Labels Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [160856]	Stylish Shapes Dies [159183]	Night Of Navy 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [100867]
Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [120953]	Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper [149612]	Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [159276]	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad [101406]
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [147110]	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [147090]	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad [147116]	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad [147109]
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [147085]	Mango Melody Classic Stampin' Pad [147093]	Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad [147052]	Versamark Pad [102283]
Basics Embossing Powders [155554]	Real Red & Burlap Ribbon Combo Pack [160386]	Timeworn Type 3 D Embossing Folder [156505]	Water Painters [151298]
Heat Tool (Us And Canada) [129053]	Stamparatus [146276]	Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [150673]

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THE BLESSINGS OF HOME

Happy Monday stamping friends.  It's a new week and time for a new featured bundle. This week I am going to showcase the Blessings of Home bundle.  If you love floral stamps and dies, you are going to love this bundle.

Before I get into the details of today’s card, I’ll let you in a bit on how I decide each week which bundle I am going to feature.  Near the end of each quarter, I take some time and make a tentative plan for the next 3 months.  During the last week of 2021 I made my 2022 Q1 plan.  For no particular conscious reason, I scheduled this Blessings of Home bundle for the week of March 6.  Who would have known back at that time that this bundle would be so appropriate for what is going on in the world today? 

Was it a coincidence that I scheduled a bundle called Blessings of Home for the week of March 6?  Maybe, or maybe there was a greater Planner at work that wanted to remind us how blessed we are to call the United States home.  While it is not perfect, I do feel blessed and thankful to call it home, and my heart and prayers go out to the people that call Ukraine their home.  

Today's card could be called a Fun Fold, but in reality, it is just a normal fold with a partial front flap.  The "fun" part of the card is that the flower on the front hangs off that narrow flap.

I used my Stamparatus to stamp the flower with Black Stazon Ink on Watercolor Paper.  Since watercolor paper has some texture, it can sometimes be difficult to get a good clear image the first time you stamp, so the Stamparatus makes it easy to reink and stamp a second (or even third) time if needed.  After stamping the image, I water colored it with my Water Painters and Classis Ink Pads.  You can either squeeze the ink pad to get some ink on the inside of the cover, use a re-inker to add a drop of ink in the cover, or use a clear block to pick up ink from the pad.  Then use our Stampin' Up! Water Painters to color the flower.  I have gotten so into the habit of using my Stampin' Blends lately, that I had forgotten how much I love to watercolor.  You can use regular Basic White card stock, Shimmery White card stock or my preferred cardstock for water coloring, Watercolor paper.  Since watercolor paper is made to handle water, it gives more time for blending the colors.  You also don't need to worry about damaging the paper by getting it too wet.

Once I finished water coloring, I adhered the left side of the watercolor paper to the Misty Moonlight mat and then fussy cut the part of the flower that extended past the edge of the Misty Moonlight.

When you aren't finding what you want in your stash of Designer Series Paper, make your own!  The background for the card front was created by stamping the larger flower image a few times with Misty Moonlight ink and then using the blending blush to blend a light amount of Misty Moonlight ink over the Basic White cardstock.  You can also see a little peek of how I decorated the envelope flap using the same technique. 

For the inside of the card, I used one of the many dies from the coordinating Flowers of Home Dies to create a die-cut from Misty Moonlight cardstock.  I adhered it to the right edge of the inside Basic White, so it shows when the card is closed.

If you would like a tutorial to recreate this card -- or make your own version, you can download a copy using this link.

A list of the products I used is shown below.

Product List

Blessings Of Home Bundle (English) [157939]	Misty Moonlight 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [153081]	Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [159276]	Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper [149612]	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad [101406]
Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' Pad [153118]	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad [147094]	Just Jade Classic Stampin' Pad [153115]	Rhinestone Basic Jewels [144220]	Misty Moonlight 1/4" (6.4 Mm) 2020–2022 In Color Ribbon [153624]
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897]	Water Painters [151298]	Stamparatus [146276]

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