My love for Watercoloring!

I saved the best for last! Oh how I enjoy watercoloring cards! Not only is there such a sense of accomplishment once your project comes to life, but each project is unique and special too! I cannot believe how much I have learned thru Altenew's Academy Classes! I am not an artist by any means, so to watercolor an image on a card was the furthest thing from my mind! I still have much to perfect, but I am happy with how far I have come since June! I love watching watercoloring classes and now I need to practice patience when making the card, as I want FAST results! That is NOT how to watercolor. Watercoloring is a peaceful and relaxing skill that will give you awesome results! I wanted to create a card with many layers and I wanted to really challenge myself this time. Inspired by Erum (always :D), I choose a card design that I have used before. I wanted a peach and grey color pallet: especially peach flowers and for this, I had to blend various colors from the 24 pan watercolor set. Once I achieved the desired color I now was able to begin making the card! I chose Airbrushed Flowers, then heat embossed with white embossing powder. I did a wet on wet application and let each layer air dry in between.

I began coloring the inner petals first with the more concentrated ink and let the water carry the ink toward the outer petals. Did same for the leaves. On the side, I made my own peach color paper and used the burlap die to cut images from the peach paper. I then wanted layers of dimension. Using the Mix and Match Frame Die Set, I used Gold Mirror paper for layer one, my homemade peach paper for layer two and applied these to an embossed flower A2 card base. I then took my flowers, leaves and burlap die cuts and arranged them on the card. I created the sentiment in a gold heat emboss to match the gold layer. Finally, I added a few white splatters, and added a few clear gems to look like water droplets. I loved making this card!!!

My next card is TOTALLY different! I received a special stamp set from Altenew called Mini Hibiscus Tea and wanted to see if I could watercolor the small images! I had a vision that these planters were sitting on shelving, so I took the Watercolor Stripes Cover Die and used the negative pieces to create my floating shelves. I then stamped each planter in Versamark Embossing Ink and heat set with white embossing powder. Using the 12 pan Watercolors Set, I began delicately painting on the dry card stock. I took my time going over each section with just a dab of watercolor. I did not over saturate the paint, but rather went in dark the first time. Once I was happy with my result, I fussy cut each image. Using the Mix and Match Frame set, I cut out a panel using woodgrain card stock, and used the linear crossroads die as this reminded me of a trellis! Once the card was assembled, I added a few black paint splatters and my sentiment!

I find myself drawn to watercolor cards so I found a few free Altenew Classes on watercoloring. Inspired by the talented Terese, I created this card using watercolor inks from the Spring Garden Set and Tropical Fiesta Set. I began stamping using the paint a flower Hydrangea onto Watercolor cardstock. From there, I used a combination of rubelitte, midnight violet, and sea breeze to create the petals. Emerald and Lime were blended to create the leaves and paper bag ink for the stems.

I still find myself using too much ink and I am learning to use a lighter hand. But this was my first time not using a heat embossed outline, and it took me 3 tries to get the color I was hoping to achieve. But this is what learning is all about! Once I completed the floral image, I gave the background a light sea breeze wash. For the base card I ink blended colors from the Northern Shore Ink Family over the tulle stencil. I framed my floral image onto a piece of lavendar cardstock and accented the corners with painted grid washi tape. To complete the card, I added a few black paint splatters! It just does not seem complete with a few splatters!

The last 2 cards here were inspired by Erum! She did a class and challenged us to make similar cards. I was in awe of the cards, so I excitedly got to work! I am really adding these next two cards as a bonus to this blog post as I only copied (with permission) another creator's work but felt they were fitting to show my growth in water color.

My goal was to complete level 2 by the end of 2021! And I accomplished this goal! Until next time! Hugs!