Hallo folks! Me here again, popping in to share a few more cards to try to get caught up. Today's first card was water colored, using for the most part my cheapest paints.
How many of you have water colors that look like these? C'mon, fess up. We all have them, don't we? Or we did at some point. I really do not think it has anything to do with ability to pay for better supplies, either. I can buy any dang water colors I want, and yet I hold onto these. I also own a few Daniel Smith tubes, some Yasutomo tubes, the Peerless complete edition and bonus pack, a Koi pan set, Lyra and Pelikan gouache sets, Inktense pencils and blocks, Brushos, and my Twinkling H2O's. But, I keep thinking I should use these cheapos up first! So, I figured if I try to use them more, I will either use them up or get so disgusted at how poorly they perform that I will trash them. What I am finding so far is, these guys don't do such a bad job, at least when it comes to painting stamped images and card backgrounds.
So, here is the scan of my finished card. The stamped image is from Sunday International and is called Asian Fairy Princess. I stamped her on 110# water color paper with Versamark ink. I had separated the paper from its wrapping a while back, so not sure of the brand. Then I heat-embossed with clear powder. I wanted to see how it looked with a white-outlined image. Then I got my liner brushes out and went to it with the cheap paints. Then, to paint the background, I pulled out a light blue Twink to get some shimmer.
Here you can clearly see that while the embossed lines are shiny and the Twinked background is shimmery shiny, the painted image is not, because it was painted with the cheap paints. I kind of like that. At first I thought I had screwed up not embossing a color, but again, I had to get used to the look. I do think that at certain angles, the fairy resembles a blonde hippy chick from California more than an Asian woman. Stamping and/or embossing with a darker color would have eliminated that. I know because here is the stamped image I have on file:
See, she looks totally Asian there stamped in black, and probably would from every angle. Hopefully next time I will think through things better when I'm conducting lab experiments with my supplies.
I am still using pieces of this Junkitz patterned card stock. I played around with stamping an Asian background on one piece and heat-embossing in gold. The other I left clean.
I then colored both pieces with Copics, ran both through my Cuttlebug inside an Asian blossom folder, and swiped the raised surfaces with 2 colors of chalk ink. You saw me do this before. I love the look I get of texture, dimension and detail, and it's so easy. Just be careful to swipe as lightly as you can in a circular motion or you could damage your ink pad which is made for pouncing up and down, not swiping sideways. Multiple passes of very light inking will build up a nice cumulative layer.
Here is the card back where you can see how cool the ink-swiped embossing looks.
I will be using this watercolor paper again. ALOT. After I had good luck with it on this, I took it all to my paper cutter and cut several A2 and A7 and 6x6 sizes. That way I can have ready to stamp on and paint. I hate that I cannot remember the brand, I'm gonna have to say that every time I use a piece, lol. I still have not tried a background wash on this paper. The Twinks do not behave the same way as regular watercolors, it's almost like they have an acrylic chaser in them. I may find this paper sucks at holding a lot of water and buckles badly, or absorbs so much there is no blending ability. I don't mind being restricted to a Twinks or a Copic background on these. I know both of those work well.
This particular relative I made this card for, I must have some sort of subliminal association between her and flowers. I noticed I have sent her cards with flowers on them 3 years in a row. Here is the one I sent her last year that I haven't shared since I was on blogging hiatus then:
The roses stamp is from a Penny Black clear set called A Bunch. The bow ribbon is from an Artistic Outpost set called Mini Masterpiece (retired). The sentiment is a Crafty Secrets stamp and the frame around it was made by Sassafras Lass. The negative space (aperture) around the roses is a Spellbinders die called Fair Isle Pendants. I am perplexed about what I used to outline everything - not Stickles, looks more metallic than glittery or gelpen-y. Maybe it was a Metallic marker or pen. Whatever it was, I must say I did a good job, lol. My hands must have been steady that day. Looks like Zig marker coloring and a little clear glittery something on the roses.
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I hope your weekend included some flowers, or at least some new blossoms or buds springing forth. I aim to post again with more cards on Monday, if doing our tax return doesn't do me in today! Ugh! lol xoxo
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