Goldfish Watercolour Card

I must admit that freehand painting scares me a bit as I have not drawn or painted in such a long time. But I gave it a try and made this card.

I haven't decided what sentiment I want to add to this card, maybe I'll leave it blank. In the corner is my Chinese name. Of course I had to stamp it crooked... *roll my eyes at myself* Maybe next time I should stamp that first before painting on it.

I have never drawn or painted goldfish before so I had to cheat and copy a picture I found online. Credit goes to: http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-166232255/stock-vector-watercolor-asian-goldfish.html

When I first painted this goldfish my hubby commented that this looked like a turtle with a tail. So I fixed it up a bit and he's not a turtle-goldfish anymore. Not as much at least, LOL!

If you are curious of my painting process, here are some pictures I took along the way...

I taped the piece of watercolour paper onto a small (self-healing) cutting mat so I can rotate it while I paint. Then I used a pencil to sketch out the goldfish. Before I started painting I used my eraser to really lighten up the lines so they won't show through the watercolour paints.

Started with a light wash of orange and red colours.

Gradually added more layers of colours. I wasn't patient enough and painted their eyes too soon causing the black paint to bleed. Their eyes ended up larger than I had planned. Also, in this picture, you can see how the bottom goldfish looks like a turtle (with a tail, as my hubby put it). HAHAHA!

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

You're Very Special Watercolour Card

I can't remember which night it was, but I got really tired of watercolour painting and just couldn't come up with any new ideas. I stared and stared at my desk not knowing what to do and then spotted a package of white Prima Mulberry Flowers. I dumped the flowers out, played with them for a bit and decided to watercolour on them.

I diluted some Distress Re-inker Ink (in Peacock Feather) with different amounts of water to create different shades of colour. Then I soaked the flowers in the solutions and created these aqua coloured flowers.

I layered and glued the flowers in the top and bottom corners. The sentiment came from the Simon Says Stamps - Very Special stamp set.

I was lucky and found some enamel dots in matching colours, so I added them as well. 

I'm very pleased with this card, because it turned out much better than I anticipated.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Thinking of You Watercolour Card

Here's another card I forgot to blog about earlier, so it's also out of order...

I made this card for day 6 of the class. Jennifer McGuire painted her stamped image using Tsukineko Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Spritz Refill. But since I didn't have any, I mixed some Perfect Pearls into a small amount of water and created my own shimmer water to paint with. I tried several times to paint images using the shimmery water, but I just wasn't in the mood that day and all my attempts turned out horribly. Instead of dumping out all of the shimmery paints I made, I used them to make simple backgrounds... a whole lot of backgrounds.

I cut the background into two halves to create a space on the card base to stamp my sentiment. The sentiment came from the Simon Says Stamp - Banner Sayings stamp set.

You can see the shimmery background better in this picture.

This cutie pie came from The Greeting Farm's Super Secrete Stamp Club - #5 Hood. I painted her using watercolour markers and had lots of fun doing it!

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

It's Your Birthday Watercolour Card

Sorry my posts are a little out of order, I've tried to fix it, but nothing seems to work. I made this card on day 4 of the class, but when I was blogging my cards I forgot about this one, so here it is now...

On day 4 of the card class Yana Smakula taught a lesson on stamping with watercolour. I tried and tried... lost track of how many times I tried... and failed epically! So I finally gave up and made up my own technique. Maybe I can't call it my technique, because I'm sure someone out there has already done this before me. =P

First I watercoloured the background using two shades of Distress re-inker inks and dried it with my heat tool. Then I sprayed a background stamp a few times with plain water and then stamped it onto the background. The stamp picked up the paint from the background and left an imprint of the image. I repeated this 4 or 5 more times and resulted in this background. I like how it turned out, so I'll definitely be using this technique again!

I stamped a sentiment on white cardstock and created my own banner. I outlined the banner using the clear Ink of Stella Brush to make it stand out a little more and to match the pink stripes. You can't tell from the pictures, but the pink stripes in the middle panel were painted using perfect pearls mixed in water which created a shimmery effect. 

This is the inside of the card. Both the sentiments on the outside and inside of the card came from a stamp set called Say What by Mama Elephant.

Thanks for visiting and hope you will give my this technique a try,

Cheryl ~

Have a Great Day Watercolour Card

While I was trying really hard to avoid using floral stamps for the majority of the class, I finally gave in on day 8. ALL of the instructors used floral stamps and painted them SO beautifully, I just couldn't resist.

Believe it or not, this card took me an entire day to finish! I hand painted all the flowers and it took way longer than expected! I majored in drawing for my undergrad degree so painting is not one of my strong suits. But I tried really hard and I guess it turned out... ok?

I kept the card simple. I used a frame die (it's an old one, so please don't ask me the name of it or the company who made it) to emboss a frame onto the card base. Then I cut out a smaller frame to paint my flowers on. I didn't paint the flowers from scratch, they came from a stamp set by Mama Elephant called Lovely Mums.

I painted the larger flower on the right first, so it turned out better. The one in the left corner turned out a little darker than I wanted, so I don't like it as much. The sentiment I used also came from Mama Elephant and the stamp set is called Tree Friends.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Love You Watercolour Card

Faux Hand-Painting is the topic on days 7 and 8. Most of the instructors used flower stamps, but I'm not a big fan of flower stamps so my stash is limited. Instead I did what Debby Hughes did and went on a completely different route. While she used stamps of balloon in her lesson, I used alphabet stamps from Simon Says Stamp - Sketched Alphabet.

I stamped the letters individually using Distress Inks and then painted them using the re-inkers.

After I finished painting the letters I added splatters of Distress Ink in Brushed Pewter. It's difficult to see in the picture, but the silver paint splatters look quite cool in real life. I also added some enamel dots for added texture and colour.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Blooming Day Watercolour Card

On the 5th and 6th days of class we learned to watercolour on stamped images. In class Jennifer Rzasa used a cityscape stamp image, so I looked through my stash and found some stamps I bought from Purple Onion when I first started cardmaking, one and a half years ago. I LOVE these stamps, but I don't use them often enough. Cause honestly, I just don't know how to incorporate them into my cards.

Obviously, I didn't plan this card out very well before I started. In my mind I thought it would be a good idea to leave the blank space... but now that the card is finished the blank space looks weird. I might go back and add a woodchip heart or flower in the center, I don't know... =\

I'm definitely going to make this card again, but instead of using brown colours to paint the other buildings I will stick to greys instead. That should make the coloured flower shop pop out even more.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Friend Snoopy Watercolour Card

Here is another card I made using the same Stamping with Watercolor technique (as the previous Friendship Snoopy Watercolour Card). Since Woodstock (in the last card) didn't really turnout the way I wanted him to I tried using a different stamp with Charlie Brown instead.

As I mentioned before, I used the same technique... coloured the stamp first using watercolour markers, spritz the stamp with water, stamped it, then painted over all the lines with plain water.

The red colour seeped into Charlie Brown's chin and hand, but it wasn't too bad. I think this card turned out a bit better than the last one.

I also found a perfect sentiment for this card and it also came from the My Favorite Things - Clearly Sentimental about Friendship stamp set.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Friendship Snoopy Watercolour Card

For the third day of the Online Card Class: Watercolor for Card Makers we learned about stamping with watercolour. I dug out my Snoopy stamps and gave the technique a try.

I coloured directly on the stamp with my watercolour markers. Then gave the stamp a spritz of water before stamping it onto watercolour paper.

After stamping the image I used my water brush to go paint over all the lines. This technique worked really well with Snoopy, the bench, and even the ice creams. Unfortunately, some of the other colours seeped into the yellow and gave Woodstock's head a funky colour.
I was very happy, however, to find the perfect sentiment to go with Snoopy and Woodstock. It came from My Favorite Things - Clearly Sentimental about Friendship stamp set.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Feel Better Snoopy Watercolour Card

I have love and hate feelings toward this card. I love it because I LOVE Snoopy and the Peanuts and also because the technique I was trying turned out really well. Why I hate this card is because it is a get-well-soon card, I only make these cards when someone is not feeling well and that's never good! >_<

This technique is called Vibrant Watercolor Wash Background, taught by Jennifer McGuire. I stamped the image first and then covered it with rubber cement (which created a resist when it dried). Then I painted a vibrant watercolour wash on the background. After the paint has dried I rubbed the rubber cement off and stamped the sentiment on top.

I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink, because it's not supposed to react with water. However, my image still bled a little and I'm quite disappointed.

Hope the recipient of my card will get well soon or at least feel better. =)

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Happy Birthday Bunnies Watercolour Card

This card was created using Agnieszka Malyszek's Soft Watercolour Wash Background technique. I used to teach this watercolouring technique to my students as well, so I was excited to use it on a card. 

At first look you must be wondering why all of my watercolouring have gone out of the lines. Well, that's because I did the watercolouring before I stamped the images. I eyeballed where all the images would go and watercoloured without trying to be exact.

I went a little over with the red on the flowers and it's bugging me quite a bit. But oh well, it's a part of the effect I was going for and I'm sure the recipient won't mind. Hehehe =P

On the inside of the card I used the same tulips stamp to create a simple boarder.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

To the Stars and Back Watercolour Card

I made this card yesterday and had to wait for it to dry overnight before I could work with it. This is a technique taught by Jennifer Rzasa, called Soft Watercolour Wash Background (with Stencils). It didn't turn out as nicely as her example, but I had a tough time with it and this is the best I could do.

I painted the background using blue and yellow watercolours. Then I placed a stencil on top and waited overnight for it to dry. The watercolour puddled around the stencil and left the images as it dried.

I used Lawn Fawn's Lucky Stars stamp set for the sentiment. I stamped the heart with red ink and then put Glossy Accent over it. It's difficult to see in the picture, but I also covered the stamped stars with some clear Wink of Stella.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

I Count Myself Lucky Watercolour Card

For this card I also used Debby Huges's Watercolour Background Stamping technique. It is slightly different from the Say Cheese card because I used more ink and more water for this background. It created a much darker and bolder effect.

I cut the background diagonally and then drew black lines using a black marker. I also sprayed the white layer with Flat Fabio Color Mist Spray in Kissin' Kenickie Coral. The sentiment came from Simon Says Stamp's Card Exchanging Friends stamp set. 

This is the inside of the card. "I count myself lucky... to know you." =)

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Say Cheese Watercolour Card

For the second day of class we learned more techniques using watercolour to create backgrounds for cards. This card used Debby Hughes's Watercolour Background Stamping technique. I was also able to use a new (to me) stamp called Say Cheese by Lawn Fawn.

For the background I used Distress Ink in Peacock Feathers and Impression Obsession's Cover-a-Card-Circles background stamp. I inked the stamp with Distress Ink and misted it with water before stamping the image onto watercolour paper. I watercoloured the Polaroid camera using watercolouring markers I bought years ago in Japan, they are very similar to Distress Ink markers. The sentiment was stamped on a piece of Tim Holtz's Mirrored Sheet using StazOn Opaque ink in Cotton White.

I really liked how the background turned out. It's a neat effect and I would definitely use this technique again.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Thinking of You Watercolour Card

Also on the first day of class we learned a technique from Kristina Werner, called Stamped Emboss Resist + Watercolor Wash.

First, I stamped the background using VersaMark ink and heat embossed it using white embossing powder. That created a resist for the watercolour wash.

I die cut Thinking of You using white cardstock and glued it on top of a strip of dark grey cardstock and vellum.

On the inside of the card I watercoloured a piece of watercolour paper and then die cut Happy Birthday out of it.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Hello Watercolour Card

On day one of the Watercolor for Card Makers class, we focused on watercolour backgrounds. For this card I used Laura Bassen's technique called Vibrant Watercolor Wash Background.

I "smushed" a small acrylic stamping block into Distress Ink, sprayed it with a bit of water using a water mister, and stamped the block directly onto the watercolour paper.

I die cut the sentiment from the background and then built up the layers before gluing the coloured layer back on top.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Pre-Class Card #2

Before class started, one of the instructors, Kristina Werner, gave us an assignment to experiment with our watercolour paints. I learned to make plaid backgrounds using watercolours and simple straight lines.

I watered-down my watercolours and made pastel colours. I painted simple lines and layered them to make this plaid background.

This turtle and sentiment came from the Lawn Fawn Year Two stamp set. I have also painted him using watercolours. I just love turtles!! 

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~

Pre-Class Card #1

I have enrolled in the newest Online Card Class, Watercolor for Card Makers. I've always enjoyed watercolor painting, so I was especially excited for this class.

Before the class began I made some cards on my own using watercolouring techniques. The first card I made features the brand new stamp from The Greeting Farms's Super Secret Stamp Club, SSSC No. 005 - Beauty. She is really cute and would be perfect for a Mother's Day card.

I painted the background using various watercolours. Then I placed a piece of vellum on top to tone down the colours.

I also watercoloured Beauty, the hello die cut and the little hearts.

Thanks for visiting,

Cheryl ~