Learn some watercolouring ink techniques with Totally Techniques Blog Hop

Birthday card using the new Stampin' Up! Forever Fern stamp set 152559

Well hello everyone. I hope you are all well as lockdown continues but is starting to be eased.  We've been busy enjoying the sunshine and our new puppy whilst hubby has continued to work. I have been crafting but preparing a batch of classes by post and also running my monthly, but now fortnightly card clubs.  It's been great connecting on Zoom and we've all gone from novice to competent intermediates and have enjoyed the connection and chat with other human beings outside our own households.

Now I"m back, finally, to share our next Totally Techniques Blog Hop showcasing watercoloring  which was chosen by  Lynsay over in Canada.

I've used watercoloring in its simplest form creating circles of watercolour wash in shades of green which I then stamped on with various colours using the new stamp set Forever Fern which will be on sale from 3 June.

I first used one of my layering circle dies to cut an aperture in some very thin acetate, but you could use vellum card.  I cut the circle in the middle of a piece the same size as a piece of watercolour card  which was 5" square, hence the sharpie lines to mark the centre to help me get the circle in the middle.  I then watercolour washed the first circle in the centre by placing the acetate over the watercolour paper.  The rest of the circles I judged by eye having got the first in the middle.  

To do the wash I used one clean aqua painter to add water to the bare circle of watercolour card.  I added more water to the centre than the edges to avoid seepage under the acetate.  The circles aren't perfect, but close enough and it adds to the rustic style of the card.  I then used another aqua painter to lift ink from the inside lid of each shade of green cleaning it on kitchen paper between each colour.    I used my heat gun to make sure the circles were dry before then creating a paper stencil to stamp different leaf images onto each circle.   I did the stamping using my Stamparatus (stamp positioning tool) so that I could add more ink if necessary to each image as stamping onto watercolour paper can be a little temperamental.  

 I added some marker pen splatters with some of the colours. If you haven't done this before you place the nib of the marker into the marker lid and flick the nib off the edge of the lid.  For more intense splatters you need to have your pen nearer to the project.  I also added some using a wet, but not dripping aqua painter brush.  Pick up some ink with the brush and then tap the brush over your project. Have kitchen paper on hand just incase the water splatter is more than you intended.  To finish the card I added a Merry Merlot matt layer followed by a layer of brass foil card.  From the foil card I cut a square using my trimmer to use on another project, waste not want not......  

Green shades used for the circle washes were Soft Sea Foam, Mint Macaron and Pear Pizzazz.  Colours used for the image stamping included Early Espresso, Merry Merlot, Mossy Meadown, Pear Pizzazz and Mint Macaron.

I added happy birthday using the soon to retire (sadly as I love it) Label Me Bold set and used scissors to snip it out.  I then used the Merry Merlot marker to colour the cut edges of the sentiment to make sure just the merlot shade showed and it helps define the edge.

You can see all the inks and sentiments in my shop now and the Forever Fern stamp set and brass foil card will be there from 3 June.

You can get some more watercoloring tips around the globe with my fellow hop demonstrators below.

Need a copy of the catalogue to browse and stroke.... and don't have a demonstrator please do contact me at
zoetant@live.co.uk

You can also SHOP NOW and perhaps find a bargain from our Last Chance List.









Thanks for stopping by

Keep safe and well and #KEEPSTAMPING

Hugs Zoe x

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Card Club - Faux Torn Edge Continues

Our fortnightly Christmas Card Club Challenge continues with the theme this week of including sheep, turkeys or camels or indeed a combination.  Rachel chose the theme and you can see her makes and all the other ladies by clicking on Christmas CC at the top of my blog.  There will be a fabulous selection with all different styles so great inspiration.

For me I have to say this was a them I gulped at as my first thought was I don't have any of these creatures in my stamp stash, but them I remembered this sweet little lamb who I found I couldn't part with when it retired.  I've also used Night in Bethlehem Stampin Up set from the current annual catalogue to create some depth with the buildings in the background and the important star.  I used the faux torn edge technique in a similar way to my previous post to create the ground the lamb stands on and the sky I sponged using Pool Party, Balmy Blue, Pacific Point and Night of Navy ink building up from light to dark and have left almost white space in the centre for the light from the star.   The sentiment and star are simply heat embossed in silver.  The words are from Merry Christmas to All which is an awesome Christmas sentiment set in the Stampin Up winter 2018 catalogue with a coordinating die set. You can mix and match words and die cuts to create the perfect sentiment of choice or use like me one of the short messages included.  

 This shows how I used a piece of torn paper to sponge the ground.

Here I used the other half of the torn paper to mask the ground in order to sponge the sky. 

To be sure that the buildings were solid colour I used my Stamparatus to enable me to stamp the image on itself several times to get total ink coverage.  

The lamb himself, is stamped with black memento ink and coloured with Stampin' Blends. I used light and dark Smokey Slate, Black and Petal Pink light to give a little colour to the inside of his ears and define his cheeks.

Happy Sunday All

Zoe x

All products except for the lamb who is retired are available in my Stampin' Up! Shop. 

SHOP

Stampin' Up! Wildflower Fields or Flowering Fields or both?

Sale-a-bration ends tomorrow along with the opportunity to get your hands on this Stampin' Up! stamp set Flowering Fields and the designer series paper Wildflower Fields for FREE. Yes FREE you can earn a free gift with every purchase of £45 worth of Stampin' Up! goodies.

SHOP NOW

1. Set up an account and nominate Zoe Tant as your demonstrator

2. Be sure to click the box saying that you wish to be contacted by your demonstrator

3. Order a minimum of £45 excl P&P

4. Choose a free gift

5. On the shopping bag page add the hostess code for March 2YZZA6U9 in order to receive a bonus free gift from me.

This promotion ends tomorrow night at 10pm.  I'd hate for you to miss it.