Bundles of Blossoms

Happy Halloween! Today I am featuring two cards which I made using the My Favourite Things "Bundles of Blossoms background" stamp and Zig clean colour real brush markers. Although I've used the same stamp and layout for both cards, they each have a very different feel about them.

For my first card I used very vibrant colours as I am entering it into a "Shades of Halloween" colour challenge. I cut the word "hooray" twice in purple and orange card, using a My Favourite Things Die-namics die,  and layered them to give a shadow effect. The "Let's Celebrate You" sentiment is from the "More Essential Sentiments" set, also by My Favourite Things. I stamped it with Versamark ink and used Zing Apricot embossing powder to heat set it. The sentiment strip was then added to my card with some foam tape for added dimension.

My second card has a very Autumnal feel and features the "Celebrate" Die-namics by MFT and another sentiment from the "More Essential Sentiments" set. This time I used Wow! Primary Chartreuse embossing powder and layered the sentiment strip again to make it stand out from the background a bit more.

Each card was a labour of love as they took ages to colour in all the intricate details, but it was very relaxing to do and I think that the end results were worth it! 

Watercolour animal quartet cards

Hello and welcome! Today I'm sharing some more cards made with watercolour paintings which I did as part of the Simply Watercolor Online card class. Kristina Werner's example was a painting of a dog, cat, fox and tiger but I had lots of ideas for different quartets of animals and I came up with the following three cards.

My first card has two cats and two dogs and they all seem to be getting along just fine! For all three cards I started with a 6" square panel of Bockingford cold pressed watercolour paper and used my Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolour paint pans and white gouache paint.

  My second card features a hippo, a bird and a pair of sheep and I added a handwritten sentiment which reads "Hippo Birdie 2 You"! Fun right?

Finally I went with a woodland theme and painted a badger, fox, owl and a rabbit (at least that's what I intended, but I think that my rabbit looks a little mouse like). Obviously I need to practise a bit more!

Thanks for looking.

Watercoloured bird with balloons

Hello and welcome. I am currently taking Kristina Werner's Simply Watercolor Online Card Class and although we aren't using any stamps or dies, I'm really enjoying stepping outside of my comfort zone and just painting.

The lessons for day 2 are all about painting simple critters and animals. Kristina's examples are all whimsical and fun (which is just as well, as I'm hopeless at drawing really lifelike animals). For the card below I started by making a card blank from some Bockingford cold pressed watercolour paper, taped it to my board and painted directly onto it using my Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolour paint pans. Extra details and the sentiment were added with a fine black PITT artist pen and my cute little bird is now ready to wing his way to one of my friends!

Thanks for looking. 

Watercolour word block - SNOW.

Well this must be a record for me as this is my seventh post for today! Also, this is the very first Christmas card that I have made this year - I just need to make the rest before the last minute now!

I am currently participating in the Simply Watercolor Online Card Class, where guest artist Julie Ebersole inspired me to make four different variations of her card example. For my final card in this series I chose the word SNOW and painted it using Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints. I then added snow flakes and drifting snow using Winsor & Newton white Gouache. I outlined the letters with a silver POSCA paint pen and added the rest of the sentiment with a fine black PITT artist pen. I took a white card blank and added a row of silver glitter tape at the top and bottom, before adhering my painted panel with foam tape for added dimension.

I love the added texture that the white Gouache gives! The photo below shows all four cards in this series - and I have ideas for several more in future. They were so much fun to paint - and not a stamp in sight!

Thank you for looking and I hope that you will forgive me for the post overload today!

Watercolour word block - HOME

Hello and welcome back - this is my sixth post for today!

The card below was created for the Simply Watercolor Online card Class. I followed guest tutor Julie Ebersole's lesson video and then painted the word HOME in a block, using my Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolour paints. I added lots of individual bricks and mortar, a grey roof shape and painted some of the spaces a pale blue colour to represent windows. The sentiment and outlining of the large letters was done using sepia and black PITT artist pens by Faber Castell.

This was one of my favourite cards to paint as I loved all the details! I have one further post to follow with a similarly themed Christmas card. Thanks for looking.

Watercolour word block - CAKE

Welcome back for my fifth post today!

I am currently taking the Simply Watercolor Online Card Class where guest artist Julie Ebersole has created a card with a word block, using a wet on wet painting technique. Following my first simple example I decided to do another, more elaborate version, with added texture and smaller additional  illustrated details. I chose the word CAKE and went to town using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints. Again the letters are edged with a silver POSCA paint pen and additional lettering was added with a Faber Castell fine black PITT artist pen.

I layered the finished panel onto pink and then yellow card, added some narrow pink glitter tape to a white card blank then added the layered panel to complete my card.

Thanks for looking. Check out my next post for details of another "altered" word block card :)

Watercolour word block - LOVE

Hello again - yes, you are not seeing things, this is my fourth post for today!

I am currently taking the Simply Watercolor Online Card Class and the first day's lessons are covering Patterns and Backgrounds. Guest designer Julie Ebersole created a card with the four lettered word FAVE painted in a block, using a wet on wet painting technique. For my first attempt I decided to use the word LOVE and my Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolour paint pans. The letters are edged with a silver POSCA paint pen and additional lettering added with a Faber Castell fine black PITT artist pen.

I could see so much potential for this type of card and so I ended up making a further three cards in a similar style (but with added details).  Further posts to follow!

Watercoloured circles

Hello and welcome to my third blog post for today. It's a little like waiting for a bus - no posts for ages and then three come along at once!

I painted the card below for the third lesson of Kristina Werner's Simply Watercolor Online Card Class. This time I used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolour paints for a wet on wet paint technique and added my finished panel to a white card blank. I really wanted to add a stamped mermaid, but I resisted the temptation! I think that this design would work very well with a range of other shapes too and I will probably revisit this to try some others out in future.

Thanks for looking. More cards to follow later!

Chequered watercolour card

Hello again. This is my second post today and I'm back to share a chequered card that I painted for the second lesson of Kristina Werner's Simply Watercolor Online card Class.

I used my Winsor & Newton watercolour pan paints, a black Sharpie pen and a no.10 white Gelly Roll pen to replicate Kristina's card front. I then mounted the finished panel onto a 5" x 7" black top folded card blank. I'm really pleased with this one as it's very bright and cheerful in real life!

Thanks for looking. I'll be back later with some more watercoloured cards to share.

It's been a while ...

It's been over two years in fact since I last updated this blog. Life has been busy and I haven't been able to create as much I as would have liked. I have missed it though and so I decided to take Kristina Werner's Simply Watercolor Online Card Class to try to get my mojo back. I have always loved watercolouring and this class is perfect for me, so prepare to be bombarded with photos of hand-painted cards! No stamps or dies were allowed and only minimal supplies were required, but I have found that stretching myself in this way is very satisfying. I did miss my stamps and ink though!

The first day's lessons concentrated on patterns and backgrounds, starting with a plaid design painted inside large numerals, which was then made into a birthday card.  For my first attempt I used similar colours to Kristina, but switched up the numerals to 75 (instead of using 50). I also chose to use my trusty Winsor & Newton watercolour pans.

This was such a fun technique that I just had to paint another version, this time using Winsor & Newton tubes of paint in Olive Green and Burnt Umber. I also changed the outlining from silver to gold and mounted the finished piece onto an olive green card blank.

This type of card is really useful for those "difficult to make for" male cards and I'm sure that I'll be revisiting this technique again in future.

Thanks for looking. I'll be back again soon with some more watercoloured cards to show you.