A Year of Card Techniques - World of Watercolors (May)

Welcome to A Year of Card Techniques Blog Hop where each month we feature a different card technique. We’ve assembled a team of card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll see a great variety of cards and ideas.

For May, we are venturing into the world of watercolor. There are so many watercoloring techniques available to us today; far too many to list here. But actions speak louder than words; so our team has worked with their favorite mediums to bring you lots of examples and loads of inspiration.

If you would like to check out our past technique hops, you can do that here:

• January-Shaving Cream Marbleizing
• February-So Sketchy
• March-no hop this month
• April-Stamp Set Showdown

We have an amazing sponsor this month, Jodie Park of Close to My Heart:

Please take a moment to check out the great products Close to My Heart has to offer. To visit Jodie on Facebook page, just click here.

And the awesome prize this month is:

We really appreciate feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop today. One winner will be chosen from all comments on the hop as of May 26, 2017. The winner will be announced in our June hop; so be sure to come back next month.

And speaking of winners, the lucky hopper from last month is Golden Goddess Designs; picked by Random Name Picker. Congratulations! Please get in touch with last month’s sponsor, Wilma Payne at wpayne@email.com, by May 26th to claim your prize.

You should have arrived here from the Card A Day Challenge (Aren't those girls AWESOME?!?!). If you're visiting here first, you might want to start at the beginning so you don't miss a thing and increase your chances of winning by commenting on each blog.

And now... we are off to my mishaps adventures!

I began with these... the Windsor Newton Watercolor Pens. (Yes!!! I said, "PENS!!!") Which side to use? The point (definitely not a fine-tip) or the brush... Um... BRUSH it is!

And then I did something fun. At least I thought I did... I sprayed "snow" on watercolor paper and let it dry. (L-O-V-E that texture. Kinda like the "orange-peel" on textured walls.) Then, I brushed on color, sprayed on water, and let that baby run! OOOH!!! I really liked it! And then... I let it dry. Oops! It was SO hard... I wasn't about to put any of my paper cutters through THAT mess. So, I took a photo and tried to print it. After several print-head cleanings... it came out pink magenta'ish. And I'm SO not down with that. I had to go another route...

And so... I drew dots and lines on watercolor paper. See? (Say it with me..., "Oooh! Ahh!")

And then I spritzed them with agua fresca (that's Espanole for "fresh water"). And let it run. I turned them and turned them, so the color would get everywhere.

I didn't like the way the dotted one was going, so I blotted it a tad with a paper towel Um... It took out most of the color, so... I placed the striped one on top and pressed it in, giving it a little more "oomph." (I do like the way the texture turned out but decided it really wasn't for this project...)

Loving the striped one, I stamped a "thank you" on it (I need LOTS of Thank You cards and am WAY behind in getting some out...), layered it on a green card base and called him 'er done!

Now you’re off to visit with Sandy! She'll be sure to show you another dimension world. Hope you had fun and thanks for stopping by. See you next month with another technique!

Here’s the full line-up in case you get lost:

• Sharon
• Claudia
• Kim
• Wilma
• Jearise
• Amanda
• Card A Day Challenge Team
• Lisa
• Sandy
• Jodie
• Candy
• Debbie

A Year of Card Techniques - (July) Watercoloring

If you are here for the Under the Sea Blog Hop, please go HERE, or you can check out all of my hops for today (there's only two!). We'd I'd love to have you!

Welcome to...

It's month seven of our year long adventure into different card-making techniques, folds and paper crafting products. We hope you got the chance to hop with us each month.It's not to late to hop and comment to be entered into our prize drawing. If you missed any of the previous months,  you can click on the month to be taken directly to the start of that month's hop.
January HERE   February HERE   March HERE   April HERE   May HERE   June HERE

This month we are playing with watercoloring and you won't want to miss the amazing and fun cards we've got for you today. We really love feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in today's hop. Each comment on the 12 hops throughout the year will be entered into a drawing for a $25 Blitsy.com or Stampin' Up gift certificate (Winner's Choice).

Now on with the projects!

I tried several types of paper... one of them being THIS (above). Watercolor Cardstock is thick and absorbs the watercolors the water fairly well but doesn't let the colors run like I wanted it to... Oh! And it curls less you know, as papers tend to do when they get hot or wet...

 

 This is just a tidbit (nothing really related to the post)... Um... What's up with THIS, Ranger? I bought two of the same color inks not because I didn't know what I had! as the name is the same, but the color tone on the cover is different. Guess what? They're the same flippin' color. Buyer beware!

I have many Distress Inks... and thought I'd try some watercolor inks as well. I think I like the Distress Inks WAY better for the blotting effect. You'll see as you get closer.

(Looking at the pics above...) And so... I put ink down... sprayed it... then sprayed some more. What a mess!

And these (above) were my results. Yep... for a couple of those I actually tried to DRAW something... hoping the colors would blend/run. Nope. Not for me! I'm not a fan of muddy gray when that's not the color effect I was going for. I'd been brought up to believe "red + blue = purple."

My patience gone... I decided to use a new die (Hello and THANK YOU, Simon Says Stamp!) I'd literally just gotten this week to utilize some of the wasted pieces I'd done. I can do something with it, can't I?

It'd been so long since I've used a thinner die, it took two passes for me to realize I needed the thicker "adjustment" plate. Another "duh" moment in my life.

Thanks to my wonderful little portable Xyron for helping me out here. I wasn't about to apply glue to these suckers!

I placed the wrong one first one down on one of my faves (craft cardstock!)... and realized it was slightly off. With that delicate of a cut, there was NO way I was going to be able to remove it and place it correctly in tact. So, I line up the die for placement purposes, and voila! There she is... Isn't she so pretty?

In light of several people passing recently, and my lack of sympathy cards in my stash, I decided to make this a beautiful one. because when you HAVE to do one and your mind is on the sad moments, your (at least mine!) best work isn't usually there. and they're thrown together. and ugh. they don't always look so great.

But... I had to chop the cut in order for it to go through my itty bitty Xyron after looking for 20 minutes for my bigger one... I just gave up and cut the dang thing. Remember to burnish well... I do this with my finger because I relate fingers to boogers so there are no glue boogers and then with a pen/pencil along the outline and the inside line/s. The sharper the better to get in every little crack.

A side view... So you can see the raised effects of that AWESOME die! I think I'm in love and you will definitely be seeing this one (and the other one I bought!) in the future! It is super versatile.

And the finished card. I didn't believe it needed that "something else" or "just one more thing". This one... I thought and still think it's just beautiful enough in it's simplicity.

 

*** A note *** When I created this card, it was before the mass shooting of officers in Dallas. Please take a moment with me and wish the officers, the families of those slain and the rest of our country peace. This isn't the answer! All lives matter. Yours, mine... ours... We are one and the same. Please love everyone. You don't have to "like" them... But they are all your people. You must love them.

Thank you for staying with me... Back to the topic of today... WATERCOLORING! which I really do L-O-V-E, only it didn't seem to want to do what it was supposed to... Like a rebel child/me! Up next is Jearise! Today's lineup (so you can be sure to visit everyone!):

Theresa

Kim

Claudia

Debbie

Sharon

Lisa

Jearise

Denise