watercolor

Embossing 4 Ways

July 21, 2020

This month’s challenge is Embossing and I have to say that it is by far one of my most favorite things to do in cardmaking, it is just magical the way that embossing powder melts to give you a shiny, raised sentiment, pattern or element to color. This set of cards uses Embossing all of those ways and also adds another which most people do not obviously go to but I will also show you some examples of detail embossing.

For these cards, I used two older Hero Arts woodblock background stamps that are so flexible I have used them both over and over, combined with white die-cut backgrounds and the Togetherness Flower Bouquet stamp set and sentiments from one of the first My Monthly Hero Kits that I thought went well with this combo. These projects really show how much fun it is to collect things you like and mix them up with your other favorites. The formula for all these cards was One large floral + stamped and embossed background +Wide layered sentiment strip. I like to make multiples of cards and my process starts with making all of the parts to mix and match, so first I stamped two charcoal grey and two pink backgrounds and 3 bouquets and die cut a couple of panels of the white background die. I also pulled out different sentiments and made matching cardstock strips as well.

For the two cards above I watercolored the Flowers with some Hero Hues Inks and a waterbrush. The top one with the gold embossing I kept the bouquet whole but for the bottom one I cut off the bottom flowers off of it and another for another card shown below. On the other pink card with the bouquet embossed in white on the background I also used selective embossing, where I used an embossing pen and colored over parts of the petals and used white satin pearl embossing powder to them. You can use detail embossing to add gold accents or highlights or give a more continuous look to differently colored items such as the two cards below.

Using the bouquest as a simple background in white embossing makes pulls the bouquet together on the panel.

Here I also usesd White Satin Pearl embossing powder on the petals of the flowers as well as the background. It is hard to see but it looks so pretty and pearly in the light.

So let’s count the embossing ways… 1- Embossing a flower or other for containing your water-coloring, 2- Embossing a background with clear embossing powder for a subtle pattern, 3-Embossing a dark color background with white ink and clear embossing powder and 4- detail embossing using an embossing pen to add selective details to small areas of your cards. with background.

I hope you like these cards and that they gave you some inspiration for other ways to add embossing to your cards. Make sure you join in the challenge. You have until 5pm EST on the 10th of August to enter the challenge via the link tool below!

We can’t wait to see what you create.

Lee Ann

Birthday Fishes – Watercolor Waves

April 27, 2020

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Hello everyone – I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

I have card today featuring water colored waves. To create the waves, I stamped the Ocean Wave background stamp with embossing ink and Hero Arts white detail embossing powder on water color paper. I then used blue water color over the embossed image and die cut the paper with wave dies from my stash.

I colored the three puffer fish from the I’m a Puffer for You stamp set and colored them with Copic markers and die cut them using the coordinating dies. I adhered the waves and fish to a white card base. I stamped the sentiment and wave accent from the same stamp set to finish the card.

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Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to join in this months challenge – watercolor.

Watercolour April

Sig_Caren

Hero Hues Easy April Watercolor

April 21, 2020

Hello everyone, this month A Blog Named Hero’s challenge is Watercolor which I love, but I know it scares some people for a lots of different reasons. Below is an easy way to get a Quick and easy watercolor card using the Hero Arts Hero Hues Inks. I chose 5 ink colors all beautiful pastels that can be combined into so many colors bright and soft. To get started I heat embossed the Blossoms for Coloring Bold Prints background on a piece of cold press watercolor paper with white embossing powder. There is also another background stamp that would work beautifully as well called Flowers for Coloring too take a look here >

I laid down color straight from the pads onto my glass surface and started picking it up with a paintbrush and varying the amounts of water I was using and mixing the colors to make new ones. The colors I used were Pool Party, Key Lime fizz, Taffy, Lemon Drop and Thistle, using them in the following combinations allowed them to mix and layer into all of the pretty brightness you see below. I was mixing the Lemon Drop with the Taffy to get a beautiful coral and the Thistle with the pool party and the Taffy to get pretty purples and pinks, then the Lemon Drop with the Lime Fizz and Pool party to get the greens and yellows. If you zoom to look you can see that I kept this very loose and free and let the colors dry and then I could layer more on top to get new colors.

What makes this really easy is only mixing the colors I suggested above but using them in visual threes and letting the emboss resist do its job.I encourage you to use any background stamps in your stash or to create a fun pattern on your card and paint away! You could also layer the entire card over a wash of yellow and not use the purple only the pool party and taffy and get all corals and greens. The more I experimented the more I fell in love with the properties of these inks, they layer beautifully but are far more transparent than distress oxides so the colors you can get are brighter too, I added different colors to the background between the flowers to make them pop, I wish I had done more of that too.

I hope you are inspired by this technique and will try it with your favorite stamps. After all of the paint had dried I added some little white pointellism dots with a white gel pen to add more details and stamped the sentiment from the You are Loved messages set. I wanted to make use of some of my favorite Hero stamps in my stash as no orders are being fulfilled right now. So my craft friends, make sure to link up all of your watercolor projects to have the chance to win a $50 Hero Arts gift card.

Stay Well and keep kindness in your heart, and for more inspiration visit me over on my blog at paperheartscissors.com

Have An Amazing Day

November 24, 2019

Hello lovelies! Seeka here and today I have a bold watercolored flower to share with you. And don’t forget, there’s still plenty of time to join in this month’s Muted Tones challenge!

For my card today, which is decidedly not muted, I used the gorgeous Hero Arts and Altenew Bloom & Grow collaboration stamp set. I love big blooms like this one that give you plenty of room to watercolor. With larger petals, it’s much easier to maintain light and dark areas for shading and color contrast.

I started by running an anti-static powder tool over a piece of Fabriano Artistico cold press watercolor paper. Then I stamped the flower in a black pigment ink and poured clear Ultra Fine embossing powder over the image. I melted the embossing powder with a heat gun and then got out my palette of Brusho powder pigments (Brusho is very similar to Color Burst powders). For this card I used Gamboge, a deep yellow, and Vermillion, a beautiful red.

I added just a tiny bit, not even a full drop, of clean clear water into the Gamboge powder and then, using a round 2 brush, I painted just a bit of the concentrated color along the edge of a petal closest to the center of the flower. Using a waterbrush filled with clean clear water, I wet the rest of the petal, starting from its tip and making my way towards the pigment. When the clear water hit the pigment, the color bloomed. I used the waterbrush pen to help move the color to cover the entire petal, but making sure that I left most of the color concentrated at the innermost part of the petal.

I repeated this process for each petal and then when over each petal again, this time with Vermillion. When I added the Vermillion, I watered it down a bit more than the Gamboge, and used a smaller amount so as not to overpower the Gamboge. The result is a beautiful gradient from red to peach to deep yellow on each petal. When the flower was dry, I cut it out and set it aside.

For the leaves I used the same ink and embossing powder, but this time I used Neenah Solar White paper since I didn’t plan to color them. I cut those out as well and set them aside.

For the background I used an old wood block stamp called Envelope Pattern. I stamped this onto a piece of Neenah Solar white and then stamped a sentiment from the collaboration stamp set. I trimmed this piece to just smaller than 4″ x 5.25″ and then adhered it to an A2-sized card base.

Finally, I used Zots Bling adhesive dots to adhere the leaves (I trimmed one leaf off of each trio of leaves to that I could place them more precisely) and then I adhered the bloom with foam tape for dimension.

Thank you so very much for coming by!

Hello There

October 24, 2019

Hello! Seeka here, and today I’m sharing a jungle-themed card that fits right in with this month’s Nature challenge. I really love the detail of this background die and pairing it with a single, simple image for a clean and vibrant card.

I started by using painter’s tape to tape down a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper onto my work surface. I used a flat brush to add clean clear water over the panel. Then I sprinkled just a bit of Brush Sea Green Crystal Colour powder around the panel and used more water and a round brush to help spread the color, taking care not to blend too much so that some light and dark variations remained. I used a heat gun to speed drying and then I repeated the process, to intensify the color, by adding more clean clear water and more Brusho.

When the panel was dry, I die cut it with the Leaves & Vines Fancy Die. I also cut two additional die cuts from 110# white cardstock and set them aside. To add some texture to the watercolored piece, I splattered some Finetec Arabic Gold watercolor and a bit of diluted Veridian gouache over the die cut. Then I stacked and adhered all three die cuts together.

The toucan is from the Hello Toucan stamp set. I stamped him in black pigment ink onto a piece of watercolor paper and then used several colors of Brusho to watercolor him. I found that black watercolor was a little bit too gray so I also used black and gray colored pencils to intensify his black features and the tip of his beak. When I finished coloring, I fussy cut him and ran a black marker around him to darken the white edges of the paper.

I stamped the sentiment, from the Many Everyday Messages stamp set, onto a strip of cardstock and then trimmed one end at an angle.

To assemble the card, I adhered the leafy background onto an A2-sized piece of Neenah Solar White and then adhered the toucan with foam tape. I slid the sentiment strip under his feet and added a bit of glue to hold it in place. And finally, I adhered the card front to an A2-sized card base.

Thanks so much for visiting, and don’t forget to join this month’s challenge!