HB Purple Watercolor Flower

I made a card for my grand niece who celebrates her next week.

I watercolored the flower with my water brush and solid watercolor crayons.  Once, dry I trimmed it and mounted it to a piece of black card stock.  Then adhered it to the front of a purple card.

I added a greeting punched with the Stampin Up Modern Label punch.  It was color printed in purple on white card stock. It is adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

Once the card was complete I spattered it. I dipped a wet toothbrush into my left over paint on my palette and ran it across a metal tool in my box.  This repeats the color I used and adds some texture to the card.

I gave her some similar cards which she can color as she desires.

Blue Green Mom's Day

I made this card to help out my sister who needs Mother's Day card for sale next weekend.
I started with the watercolor piece.  I simply wet the paper and use my water brush to drop color onto it. I started with the blue then added the green for the leaves.
Once dry, I trimmed the piece.  I wrapped a turquoise string on the left and tied it with a bow.
I added a clear embossed black greeting on vellum across the top and taped the ends to the back.
I chose a piece of turquoise card stock and press embossed it with a Provocraft with leaves in opposite corners. I just embossed the right hand side.  I adhered this layer to the front of a green card. 

Art Card Stack Class

I am holding my Art Card Stack Class tonight and these are the cards we are making.  This is a very different from the kind of cards I usually make.  I had hoped that by offering something different it would be more popular and I would be able to capitalize on the trend of adult coloring books. Did not turn out that way.  I have a few ladies registered.

I will be bringing a couple sets of pencil crayons, and water color pencils with brushes.

I have 2 ladies who purchased the Stampin Up Watercolor Crayons years ago and would like to learn how to use them with the Aqua Painter (water brush) which was sold at the same time. We will use a clear mount for our palette.  I am looking forward to helping these ladies make use of the supplies they have.  I also have these supplies which I have not used a lot so we will have fun together.

These line drawings are printed on heavy card stock.  The designs are by Joanne Fink. She is an Orlando based calligrapher/designer.

I chose to mount them onto black card bases so no matter what color the participants chose it would match the black outlines in the art.  I wanted to add greetings but without hiding the wonderful art so I chose vellum as a substrate.  Again, with black letters clear embossed on the vellum so it all matches and does not conflict with any colors selected.  All held in place with tiny black brads.

My 2 Cents:
As a person who has spent the better part of the last 20 years working on cards, teaching classes, and in many involved in this craft I am disppointed in the lack of appreciation for them in the younger crowd.  I know that when the postage increased in our area a few years ago that was the final straw for some who just abandoned the practice completely.

Cards are not popular among the younger crowd and the older crowd struggles with the motor dexterity to handle the materials and tools. I, one day will no longer have people who will participate.  I am sad about that but that is for a day way in the future I hope. 

I was speaking to a young lady yesterday and she was not interested as she does not send cards at all.  I guess it's all on line or not done at all.



Laurentien pencil crayons - the brand I used when I was in elementary school. Can be applied light or heavy. Soft or bold are options.

Artist's Loft - Watercolor Crayons which are applied like pencil crayons then lightly moistened with a paint brush to blend the color(s) and fill in the white spaces.

Stampin Up Watercolor Crayons. They are solid color pencils so there is enough color in this box for me to paint the rest of my life and likely beyond that.  These are available under other brands.


A spray bottle to provide a bit of moisture when needed.  The Aqua Painter brush from Stampin Up.

I am looking forward to the class and sharing my knowledge and giving these ladies the ability to leave my class and continue to make art and cards.

Watercolor Flora Card

This card is for one of my card exchange buddies.

I started with a left over from making samples for my Art Card Stack Class which is coming up soon.
I decided to watercolor this card with the Stampin Up Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  I used a water brush to apply the color.  I used Garden Green, Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy, Cherry Cobbler and Not Quite Navy. I used Not Quite Navy to add spatters to the element.  It was cut to 3 7/8 inches square.

I added a length of Spring Moss grosgrain ribbon on the left hand side of the card front and taped the ends to the inside.

I stamped the greeting in Cherry Cobbler with the Itty Bitty Banner Stamp set the die cut it with the Bitty Banner Framelit set.  I mounted it to the right of the ribbon with 3D foam tape.

I used a water brush to paint the color onto my card element.  I applied a bit of color to a clear stamp mount with the crayon then painted from there.  In my opinion, this is the best way of doing.  You can You can collect the color directly from the crayon onto the brush which works okay if you want a bit more intense color. Applying the color directly with the crayon to your paper puts too much color, makes it too dark and it has very fat end for coloring. 

I bought the crayons second hand and I see that I got some colors from the Rich Regals set and some from the Earth Elements set.  I am very happy with the color selection.  These will last me my life time. 

Watercolor Images

I made these cards for my card exchange group.

I started with Adorn It - Art Play Paintables - Be Awesome by Lindsay Ostrom.  This is sold in a 12x12 page with 12 images. These are images printed on watercolor paper and ready to be painted. I used a water brush and pan watercolor to add some color to these images.  I chose to leave the girls face white because I thought I would screw up a flesh color. Sunflower are my favorites. Once painted I let them dry then pressed them flat.  I chose a blue card for the first one to match with the bee wings and trails.  I added a layer of vellum to the card front then I added the green polka dot designer paper.  I mounted the watercolor piece with 3D foam tape.  On the right card I omitted the vellum and cut the designer paper into a strip and triangles and adhered them as shown.  The watercolor piece is mounted with 3D foam tape.

Card - Simply Sketched Sympathy

I made this card for a friend who lost his dad recently.
I started with a Crushed Curry card.  The stamps I used are from the Simply Sketched stamp set.  I chose the bird to make the card more masculine and stamped it in Crushed Curry and the sentiment in Baja Breeze as I don't have a Pool Party pad. I watercolored some background on upper and lower portions of the Whisper White card stock with an Aqua Painter and the same colors.  I put the bottom edge of the Pool Party layer through the Big Shot with the edge of the Scallop Square Bigz Clear die.  I dyed a bit of white cotton thread with some Crushed Curry ink to add a bit of repetition and fill in the space below the white layer.

Submitting this to the following challenges:
TGIF Challenges - 01 Color challenge
I skipped the Calypso Coral because it was a card for a guy.

Cool Tool - Water Brush

Here's a cool tool I picked up recently. It's a water brush.  I holds water which is send down to the brush.  You can then pick up color from a variety of sources and paint with it.

The color can be a watercolor palette, a dye ink pad, liquid acrylic paint, and I'm sure there a many others. They come in several brush tip sizes like small, medium, and large. You squeeze the barrel to get water to the brush. When you want to change color just squeeze a bit of water and press on your cloth or paper towel and you ready for a new color.

Several makers produce these. Pentel, Sakura, Derwent are several. I believe Tim Holtz has a set and Stampin Up as well.