Card - HB watercolor - Purple

A large purple watercolor card for my aunt who is celebrating a birthday soon.

There is several layers and colors of watercolor brushed across then dried.

Later, I just let color drip down the paper while it was standing.  Catching the drips at the bottom on the desk.

It was then pressed flat.

A simple flower where I punched the flower and painted it with the bits left on the palette. Added a stem and a center.

Half sheet sized card on SU Lavendar Lace cardstock.

I added some clear  rhinestones held in place with Bling Zots. Full sheet insert to hide the brad in the center of the flower. White envelope and it's done.   

Found a new place to take my card pictures where I did not have to move stuff all the time.  See how it goes.

How To: Paper Decorating

The creating on the silicone with color then printing onto paper was not my favorite technique. It's possible that my mat not being white made it harder to see what I was creating and therefore I was not as happy with the results. Using glaze instead of acrylic paint affected our end product as well because it's translucent and not opaque.
I ended up liking the printing with a letterpress or an embossing folder the most. This involved mixing the glaze medium and color together then applying to the letterpress/folder with a rubber brayer. Placing the paper onto the silicone mat for a bit of give then turning the letterpress/folder over onto the paper and pressing it down. I used a rolling pin as my brayer was full of color.  It really needs consistent pressure throughout the surface.   You can see that I printed over a layer I had printed and left to dry.  That's the beauty of the process, just keep adding until you are happy with the paper.
In the bottom picture my sister is using a foam brush over a stencil with a couple colors.   The top row is a sample of some of the paper we created this weekend.  It was a good experience and great to spend time with my sister.

Cool Tools - Mono Printing

My sister and I worked on mono printing on the weekend.  I was inspired by the Gelli Plate buzz on the internet.  My first challenge was finding an economical substitute for the the plate.  I found the pink silicone place mat at a discount store.  My sister bought a large non stick mat made for candy making. Our costs were in the $6 range. We set up our tables, spread out the necessary plastic sheet on our work surface, then placed our silicone mats.  The tools we selected were: a rubber brayer, foam brushes, stencils (fun foam and plastic), letterpress plates, embossing folders, texture makers (foam drawer liner, foam shapes, sequin hole ribbon, rubber texture tools) spritz bottles and rags, water and sink for clean up.  We choose clear and colored glaze was our medium.  I added some re-inker to create paper in colors I could match later.