Hey Arties! What a great way to stand together and celebrate our common paper crafting passion.
Surely we all have experienced some level of upheaval right now, so let’s take a bit to party and unwind over some really beautiful handmade goodness.
About two months ago, I watched a video of a watercolor artist that recommended some Legion Stonehenge Aqua Cold Press paper. I can’t remember who it was, but this stuff is a dream for no line watercoloring. I love the texture of it and its not so thick as other brands. The guru of no-line, Kristina Werner, speaks well of Fabriano!
I cannot claim expertise in this area! I can only say that this paper worked very well for this technique. It held the water well without absorbing it entirely, yet took in enough to keep it from puddling. Here’s how I created this card.
SUPPLIES:
Stamp sets: Lifting Hearts Stamps & Dies and the SSS Greeting Mix 1.
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Squeezed Lemonade, Festive Berries, Dried Marigold, Vintage Photo, & Carved Pumpkin. Gina K Dark Chocolate Dye Ink, Gina K Lemon Drop Dye Ink
Paper: Legion Stonehenge Aqua Cold Press (You can use Arches). Neenah Solar White 110LB Classic Crest Cardstock
Embellishments: Trinity Jelly Drop Hearts
Gina K Connect Adhesive
#6 Watercolor Brush
PROCESS:
To begin, I stamped the bunny and balloon image with Gina K Lemon Drop Dye Ink.
Then, section by section I colored in the image with distress inks.
Wet a small section of the image with your brush and clean water, enough to where the paper glistens, but the water does not pool on top.
Add a wash of the lightest ink to the paper first and add color in layers until you are happy with each section. If you wet the entire image at once, colors will bleed into each other and you may feel like physically hurting a loved one. Also, too, as well, by working in sections, your first water layer will not dry out too fast.
Leave a part of each section unpainted, to add light to the image. Add color to the edges for depth.
After painting the stamped image, I die cut it with the coordinating die and put some foam tape on the back of it.
Next, I painted some clouds onto a 4 x 5.25” panel using the same colors as I used for the bunny and balloons. These clouds consist of swipes of paint, to give the impression of shadows and depth, without defined lines.
Then, I splattered the image and bunny with more of the same inks and added some white gouache.
After the splatter dried, I stamped the sentiment with Gina K Dark Chocolate Dye Ink.
Next, I popped the floating bunny up on the left-hand side.
Then, I adhered the frosted jelly drop hearts in an array around the image with Gina K Connect Adhesive
To finish off the card, I popped it all up with some fun foam using more Gina K Connect Adhesive on the front of an A2-sized card base.
THANK YOU
I appreciate you stopping by to see what I created for the Simon Says Stamp United We Craft Party. For the West family, crafting is a way to keep Dad sane while everyone else does homework. There will be no sweet images of me crafting with my family. Though, I will throw in a pic of me and my son Jake, who helps me moderate comments on my Facebook Lives, now! Jake is 16 and has a heart of gold. He’s a goalkeeper for the Classical High School soccer team and loves Jesus, too.
If you have been inspired by this post to try your hand at no-line watercolor or to stamp with these sets I mentioned above, I would be thrilled if you used my links to shop. When you use my links, you support my artistic efforts at no additional cost to you!
I hope you’ll also post your crafty and family pics with hashtag #SSSunitedwecraft on all the socials.
In the comments below, let me know what your favorite watercolor products are!
