Stamper’s Dozen Blog Hop – Color Your World

Hello, Stampers!  Thank you for joining us!  This month’s blog hop is titled Color Your World, and we were asked to share a card using our favorite coloring technique.  I love to color with any of our products, so it is hard to pick just one.  I chose to share this watercolored card to inspire you to get your Aqua-painter out and use it.  I know we ALL love our new Blends and the Stampin’ Write Markers too.  My poor Aqua-painter had been collecting some dust but is happy now!! LOL.

Measurements:

• Early Espresso cardstock: 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, scored and folded at 4 1/4″
• Cajun Craze cardstock: 5 1/8″ x 3 7/8″
• Watercolor paper: 5″ x 3 3/4″
• Very Vanilla: 5 1/4″ x 4″ for blank inside.

The Details:

I used the Peaceful Place stamp set, stamping onto watercolor paper with Jet Black Staz-On ink.  Notice, I stamped the image very close to the top of the panel, leaving room for the sentiment at the bottom.   As an alternative, you could stamp the sentiment first, using Staz-On and then the image.

For water-coloring, I used: Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party, and Crumb Cake ink pads and re-inkers.  I noticed that it is a bit more challenging to squeeze enough ink onto the lid of the newly designed ink pads, so I added a drop of re-inker to the inside of the lid.

TIP: You can control the density or hue of the color by using more or less water.  For example, if you want a more vibrant, darker color, pick the color up without adding water to it. Doing this will make it very dark and rich.  When you want a lighter color, squeeze the aqua-painter gently until a drop of water falls onto the lid then mix ink with it until you get the desired hue.  If, when water coloring, you get too much color where you wanted it lighter, dab it with a paper towel and then, if necessary, add more water to the area to lighten it more.  You really cannot mess up water coloring!

Let’s get started coloring!

The following is how my card was colored; however, you can use any colors you wish on your card!  I started by randomly tapping the tip of my brush onto the tree leaves with pretty dark Cajun Craze and then dark Crushed Curry. (remember to squeeze and clean your aqua-painter on a paper towel or old rag between colors!) Next, I immediately went back and added very watered down Cajun Craze between the “dotted” leaves.  I may have gone back and put some more of one color or the other as I saw fit.  While letting that area dry, I squiggled some Pear Pizzazz over all the trees and the stamped shaded areas of grass.

Going back to the tree, I used Crumb Cake ink with very little water on my brush to paint the trunk and a few branches using just the point of the brush.  While I had this dark ink on my brush, I colored the rocks on the bottom right too.  Then, going back to the grassy area and bank of the river, I used moderately watered-down Crumb Cake ink on the bank and very watered down Crumb Cake over the grassy area.  After the long hot summer, many times here in Texas, there is very little grass left.  I colored the water Pool Party blue and added some more intense Pool Party to the stamped lines in the river.  Finally, I painted over the river with my clear Wink Of Stella to make the water glisten!  I love how this card came out.

An Up-Close Look:

This close-up shows the effect of Wink of Stella clearly.  It also shows how very diluted the Crumb Cake ink was over the grass.  Notice that, when water-coloring, I do not make sure that every single spot is colored.  In my opinion, this makes the picture more “artsy” and lets the human eye fill in the gaps.

Most of all, I hope you will try this and HAVE FUN with water-coloring.  I would love to see your creations!!   See you next month.  I hope you will continue on the hop by clicking on the next link below.

<!—STAMPERS DOZEN BLOG HOP LINKS–>

Stamper’s Dozen July 2019 Blog Hop

1. Patty Chenail – Stamp-Patty’s – Stamping in My Flops
2. Judy Garza – Creativity Released
3. Sharon Hashimoto Burkert – As the Ink Dries
4. Carol Payne – Carol Payne Stamps
5. Joanne Cantrell – Keep It Simple, Stampers
6. Rachel Yurkanin – Rachel’s Stamping Place
7. Debbie Naylor – Unfrogettable Stamping
8. Bonnie O’Neill – Bonnie Stamped
9. Laura Milligan – I’d Rather BEE Stampin’
10. BJ Peters – StampinBJ

<!—END STAMPERS DOZEN BLOG HOP LINKS–>
Product List