"Last Thursdays": Graceful Garden Watercolor Rose Cards

FREE Gift When You Use July Host Code: NDMKXKZG

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Hi Stamping Friends!

My local "Last Thursdays" monthly card class is coming up in a couple days…will you be joining us?! Simply click on the link below to sign up by end-of-day Wednesday, July 26.

Today, I'm sharing another pair of cards from the class featuring a gorgeous stamp set and simple watercolor technique!

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July "Last Thursdays" Class Details

Thursday, July 27, 2017, 6:30pm. Fort Wayne, IN

Register Here By July 26

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CASEd from Connie Collins at Constantly Stamping.

Graceful Garden Watercolor Rose Cards

The Graceful Garden stamp set has a gorgeous rose image that is perfect for coloring techniques. Most images are smaller, lending themselves to "faux" watercoloring with ink and a Blender Pen. For this larger image, I thought it would be fun for my "Last Thursdays" class to play with "real" watercolor using an Aqua Painter and watercolor paper! The results are amazing, and amazingly easy to achieve!

Graceful Garden watercolor - sweet sugarplum

Background Basics—I began by adding a 1-1/2" x 5-1/4" strip of a Sweet Sugarplum pattern of the Petal Garden Designer Series Paper. This 6×6" paper stack coordinates with the images from the Graceful Garden set. I adhered the strip to a vertically cut (4-1/4" x 11", folded in half) Crumb Cake card base.

Then, I embossed a 2-1/2" x 5-1/4" strip of Sweet Sugarplum with the Pinewood Planks Dynamic Texture Impressions Folder and mounted it next to the DSP. TIP: Add a light spritz of water on each side of the card stock before embossing for extra-deep embossed texture.

Graceful Garden watercolor - sweet sugarplum 2

Terrific Trim—I used a few strands of the Burlap Ribbon to tie around the card front into a knot. To get the strands, simply cut down the length of the ribbon between the strands for the length that you need, then pull the strands apart. I love using the Burlap Ribbon this way!

Focal Point Layer—My watercolor layer begins with a 3-1/4" x 4-1/2" piece of real Watercolor Paper. I stamped the Graceful Garden image in Archival Black Ink and let it dry for a moment. For my palette, I squeezed my Sweet Sugarplum ink pad to transfer some ink to the lid. I used an Aqua Painter to apply the ink.

Graceful Garden watercolor - sweet sugarplum 3

Watercolor Tips—Playing with watercolor is so fun! Don't be intimidated if you've never done it before. Here are some helpful hints:

Moisten the Aqua Painter brush be squeezing the barrel. You want it wet, but not dripping.
Pick up some color from the lid and paint a light wash of color over a small area, like a petal or group of petals. Then, while that area is still wet, add a little more color to the side of the petals closest to the center of the flower for shading. Watercolor is about working light to dark. Keep adding layers of color to the innermost parts of the petals or leaves to shade and define them, leaving the outermost areas light or even colorless.
Don't worry about staying in the lines…watercolor is meant to flow! I've found that it looks amazing to not go right up to the lines with color, too! Sometimes less color has a more dramatic watercolor effect! I like to drop my paint brush, loaded with ink, near the inside of the petal or leaf, then "push" the colored water closer to the edge in small circular motions to achieve this look.
Do not squeeze the barrel of the brush while you are coloring, or you the brush might suck ink color back into the barrel.
Wipe off the brush on a paper towel or scrap paper until it paints clear before moving onto another color.
If you get too much water on the ink pad lid, wipe it up before closing. You don't want to dilute the ink pad color.

Layering Colors—I only used Sweet Sugarplum and Old Olive on this card, but I could have added Pink Pirouette & Pear Pizzazz for lighter colors or Rich Razzleberry for darker shading on the flower. I decided to make it easy with the two colors and it really shows that you can get a lot of richness and depth by layering on more of the same color.

Alternate Paper Options—Real Watercolor Paper will always work best for watercolor techniques, however there are other options for a similar look. My next favorite choice is Shimmery White cardstock. It has a bit of a finish on it, so it allows the ink and water to sit on the surface of the paper and be blended easily before drying.

You could use Whisper White or Very Vanilla cardstock, too, but you will not get the smooth flow of ink, or the awesome absorption like the Watercolor Paper. You also won't be able to "work" the ink to blend it or push it into place because the paper will "pill" and tear quickly. You just have to lay the color down gently and carefully add more color without much water. If you've only tried watercoloring on the basic card stock and don't like the results, you need to try Watercolor Paper before you give up on this technique. It's worth spending a little more to have the right tools!

Finishing Touches—I stamped the corners with the pretty Graceful Garden trellis image in Crumb Cake ink, then added the sentiment in the corner with more Archival Black ink. The layer is mounted a little off-set with Dimensionals.

Two Cool—The second version begins with a different Calypso Coral pattern from the Petal Garden DSP stack and the embossing is with the coordinating Garden Trellis folder.