2 more little girl cards

I managed to watercolor 2 more of the little girls, with different coloring.

These cards will go to Operation Write Home for our deployed troops to mail to their little girls at home.  Since all the little girls have different coloring, I tried to make a variety of coloring.  The background papers are all from DCWV and the dies are by Spellbinders.

More watercolored images

I managed to watercolor a few more of the little girls from the previous post.  I did ruin one other by changing colors before the first color was dry.  Watercolors will spread into other wet areas.  I'm trying make them with different coloring.  The one I threw away was a blond girl.  I stamped a couple more and will try again.  Here's the two I finished today.

I did find that I need strong adhesive to hold these together.  My ATG gun wouldn't hold them.  This is partly from the watercolor paper and partly from the shiny raised dots on the background paper.  That paper is from DCWV.  I used red liner tape and Glossy Accents for the shoes and to hold the gems in place.

Out of comfort zone

Last week, I received a surprised gift in the mail.

This is a fundraiser set for Operation Write Home (OWH).  The stamps are discontinued and donated by My Favorite Things.  OWH used them as a fundraiser.  The donation went to OWH and the stamps were mailed out to purchaser.  However, some nice person asked them to be sent to me as a RAK (random act of kindness).  My thanks to the person who made this possible.

Now, I was placed in a position to step out of my comfort zone.  I rarely color stamped images and don't make Halloween cards.  Since I have been playing with my Peerless watercolor papers recently, I decided to use this method.  I stamped the image with pigment ink and embossed in clear embossing powder on watercolor paper.  I then cut out the image with an oval Spellbinders die.  My next step was to color this image with my watercolors.

I added a few gems and Glossy Accents to her shoes.  I also used one of the sentiments from the set that didn't imply Halloween.  I mounted it on a tag, cut out with a Spellbinders die.  I cut the tag twice, one of each color.  I then trimmed off the edges of the white one and stamped the sentiment onto that center piece.  This paper is from DCWV and has a bit of sparkle to the dots.

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Butterfly thanks

I'm had these watercolored butterflies sitting on my desk for several days.  I decided to assemble the cards.

I added some gems to the butterflies and popped the wings a bit.  The sentiment is a bit hard to read on that green paper, so I made some changes with the second card.  The base cards are Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream.

Another butterfly

I found a set of 3 Spellbinder butterfly dies in my stash.  I cut out some watercolor paper with them and tried coloring them with watercolors.  This didn't really turn out as well as I'd hoped and I took 2 days on them.  I used one of them on a card.  I may come up with a way to use the others later, but this is the one I used.

I thought it needed more of something, so I added some little red gems to some of the flowers.

Watercolor butterflies

After having good results with the die-cut leaves with watercolor, I decided to try butterflies.  This die is a very old one by Cuttlebug that came with 3 different embossing folders.  I chose the simpler folder.  I cut the watercolor paper with the die, then spent all day adding color with my Peerless watercolor sheets and waterbrush.  Last night, I was about ready to trash them.  I left them overnight to dry thoroughly and they looked better this morning.

I put them through the embossing folder and Big Shot once again, then added a little ink to edges and embossed area.  I even put red Pearl Pen on one of them.  I once read that makes them look scary to their predators, but cause it looks like they have red eyes.  Next, I found patterned papers to go with each butterfly.

Watercolor leaves - tutorial

I don't know why I never tried this before, but it all began when I was cleaning out old supplies that had accumulated over many years.  It started when I found my Peerless Watercolor Papers that had been sitting unused over many years.  Yesterday, I showed my first attempt at die-cutting leaves from watercolor paper, then coloring them.  I repeated the process and took some photos.

I gradually added color to the leaves with a waterbrush, picking up color from the watercolor papers and using a plastic lid for a palette.  I found they dry lighter, so I would allow them to dry then add more color.  All of that water flattened out the embossing, so I put the dry colored leaves back into the Spellbinders die and embossed them again.

The next step was to prepare a card background for the leaves.  Digging through my paper stash, I found some very old 'handmade' paper that is like mulberry paper, but heavier.  I measured the size needed and tore the paper, after wetting the line with my waterbrush.

I stamped the sentiment directly on the handmade paper, then added a frame and mounted it onto a cream card base.  Next, I added the leaves and acorn.

 

Watercolor leaves

I'm still trying to find my way back into making cards.  I decided it's time to begin making fall cards for Operation Write Home.  I'm not quite ready to make Christmas cards yet.

I had found my very old Peerless Watercolor papers and have been trying to use them.  I also pulled out my old Spellbinders die called Harvest 2 - Leaves.  I used this die to cut and emboss some watercolor paper.  Then, I started watercoloring the autumn leaves.  Watercolor paper is very forgiving and I kept adding color for several days.  When I decided it was enough, I put the leaves back into the die and embossed them again because all the water had flattened the leaves.

I also located a very old handmade paper that is like mulberry paper, only heavier.  I wet the edges with my waterbrush and pulled the paper apart, instead of cutting it.  The sentiment is stamped with Memento Potter's Clay ink with a Hero Arts stamp.  This is all mounted on a cream base card.