#999 – A Rose Bouquet

PE: Honorable Mention at The Card Concept!! 🙂

Hello and welcome! Its the first of the month and we have a new challenge at Happy Little Stampers Watercolor challenge. Anything Goes as long as you’ve used some form of watercoloring in your project.

And here’s what I created –

I first die cut pieces from watercolor paper using the dies from Altenew Rose Flurries and Pink Fresh Studio Dainty Blossoms and watercolored them using Gansai Tambi watercolors. Once they dried, I adhered the relevant pieces together and assembled them on the card.

This is one of the cards that took me extra long to complete, since I wasn’t sure what to use for the background. Initially, my idea was to watercolor a vase behind the flowers but that wasn’t looking as good as it did in my mind.

Finally, I settled on using watercolor paper, embossed it using the We R Memory Keepers Weave embossing folder, mounted it on kraft cardstock. I then adhered all the flowers and leaves on top of this.

For the sentiment, I used WPlus9 Basic Banners, which I fussy cut. I then adhered it at an angle on the card.

I’m joining the following challenges with my card –

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

The Card Concept challenge #174: How Does Your Garden Grow : I made a clean and layered card using the flower filled garden as the focus.

Do stop by the Happy Little Stampers challenge blog to see what the rest of the DT has created and don’t forget to join the challenge with your own watercolored project!

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

#996 – Distress Oxide Ink Smooched Background

Hello and welcome! Time for a new challenge at Happy Little Stampers Watercolor challenge. It’s always ‘Anything Goes‘ challenge!

Here’s what I made for this month –

The colorful splotchy background is my watercolor art work for this month! As I tend to do more floral watercolors, I thought of doing something different and went for backgrounds this time. This is, though, an old technique of using distress inks/distress oxide inks and ink smooching.

For making the background, I actually used normal cardstock. I then added layers of ink smooching, dipping the whole paper to grab the color the first time, and then selectively picking color on certain parts from then on. I used various shades of inks to make the background nice and colorful. In the end, I used Distress Micro Glaze to really bring out the colors and the layers. The Glaze really does make a difference!

Once done, I started die cutting for the front. I used My Favorite Things Elegant Rectangle for the frame and Mesmerizing Mandala for the focal, die cutting several pieces of the mandala to get stabilize the intricate die cut. I then foam mounted both the pieces on the background.

For the sentiment, I die cut Simon Says Stamp Painted Hugs from gold foil paper and a sentiment from Concord & 9th Lots to Say, which I stamped and trimmed. I added these two pieces on the card to complete the card.

Checkout what the rest of our incredible DT created at the Happy Little Stampers Watercolor challenge blog and join the fun with your own project with watercoloring.

Thank you for stopping by! 🙂

#989 – Spring Hello

Hello and welcome!! It’s time for a new challenge at Happy Little Stampers and as always we start with the Watercolor challenge.

And here’s what I made for this month’s inspiration –

I thought of making a card with coloring using stamped images misted with water for the background. I used the Simon Says Stamp Folk Dance background stamp for this.

I used Hndmd watercolor paper and since I wanted to use plenty of colors, I colored each part of the stamp using mini distress ink pads – the small size helped me apply the color easily – then misted it with a bit of water and then stamped it on. If there was any color on any unwanted part of the stamp, I wiped it off using the corner of the small towel I keep for crafting (cleaning stamps etc) before stamping. It took a little longer then simply stamping the whole thing with one color. I also had to stamp each part twice, since I was using two shades of the inks for each part.

When I was done with all the parts, I left the piece aside to dry.

Once done, I felt that there wasn’t enough ‘watercolored’ look, so I misted some more water on the panel. This reactivated the inks and spread all over the cardstock. The red was the most active one and spread more than I wanted, so I used some kitchen towels to suck up the ink in areas I didn’t want it. I set this aside to dry. Once dry, I used My Favorite Things Stitched Wonky Rectangle to die cut the panel and mounted it on white cardstock.

For the sentiment I used Altenew Waterbrush Hello, cut it out from white cardstock and a few scraps, adhering them together before mounting it on the card. The stamped part of the sentiment comes from Bitty Hugs and Kisses, which I foam mounted on the card.

And that’s my card for this time. Checkout the Happy Little Stampers Watercolor challenge blog to see what other wonderful inspiration the rest of the DT has for you, and don’t forget to join with your own watercolored card!

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

#985 – Sending Big Hugs

Hello and welcome! We have a new challenge up at Happy Little Stampers Watercolor challenge, and this month, as every other month, it is Anything Goes!

And here’s what I made –

I stamped the flowers on watercolor paper, then lightly watercolored them using Distress Inks. I then stamped the leaved and gave them bright green watercoloring. I then fussy cut all the images, then used a marker – actually two – to cover the cut edges in black. I then arranged the pieces on a navy blue card base, and then foam mounted them. I then trimmed the overhanging bits, to fit everything within the card base.

For the sentiment, I chose Simon Says Stamp Big Scripty Greetings, stamped it on the watercolor paper and fussy cut it. I added it to the card using more foam tape. For embellishing, I used a mix of silver and blue sequins. And that finished my card!

Checkout more lovely inspiration from the design team at the Happy Little Stampers challenge blog.

And thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

#979 – Hello to the New Year!

Hello and welcome!! A very happy new year to everyone!! May this year brings lots of happiness and keep you in good health.

With the start of the new year, we also have the challenges at Happy Little Stampers starting up. The very first one being Watercolor challenge, and as usual, Anything Goes!

Here’s what I made –

I used Concord & 9th Painted Rose stamp. I stamped the outline using VersaFine Onyx black ink. Then I used Altenew inks for the solid colors, misting the stamp before stamping, which helped cover the uneven paper well. I stamped the upper layers while the lower layered colors were still not completely dry, so that the inks mingled just the tiniest bit. I then watercolored the blue background using more Altenew inks. I then added splatters of the same blue on the flower, once it was relatively dry. To enhance the look, I added dots of black using a black fineliner pen from Uniball.

For the sentiment, I wanted to go with a die cut, if possible. Luckily I had the Altenew Bold Greetings dies with me. I die cut a piece from white photo paper (do they come in other colors??) to get that shine without embossing, and a few more pieces from scrap paper, and adhered them together for dimension. I had initially thought of using kraft cardstock for the background, but I added a strip of the photo paper on the side to tie in the sentiment. Of course, the base is still kraft cardstock. I added a few white flat sequins for embellishing.

And that’s my card! And I’m joining the following challenges –

Watercooler Wednesday challenge #331: Anything Goes

Timeout challenge #204: New

Checkout the Happy Little Stampers challenge blog for more inspiration from the design team.

And thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂