Watercolor Painted Butterflies

Not long ago I ordered this stamp set called Pen Pattern Butterflies from Simon Says Stamp that is made by Stampendous. In my constant search for things to watercolor, I like that this set has 3 different sizes and styles of butterflies.  These two cards use the largest one from the set.

Over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog this week the theme is "Ray of Sunshine" to remind us that summer and warmer temperatures will be coming again.  So when I was thinking about what I would do for this challenge and I came across this stamp set it made me think of summer when the butterflies are out and also that butterflies only come out when the sun is shining; never in the rain.  I wondered if that was true or if it was merely that I also avoid hanging out in the rain.  Of course, I had to go look it up!  I found the following question and answer from the New York Times, October 17, 2006. 

Butterflies seek the same kinds of shelter in the rain that they would seek at night, when they are also vulnerable. They quickly hide in umbrella-like foliage, in tree hollows, under rocky outcroppings or even in crevices in rocks. Raindrops are as threatening to the light-bodied butterfly as the bucket of water propped over the door in a silent comedy film would be to a human being.

As noted in ''The Butterflies of North America,'' by William H. Howe (Doubleday, 1975), a butterfly, which is cold blooded, basks in the heat of the sun ''in order to build up its body temperature to operating level,'' and it faces a severe risk of mortality in heavy downpours. It huddles with folded wings until the sun comes out again and it is able to fly once more.

 Aha!  It wasn't just my imagination, they really don't come out in the rain.  So the butterflies are perfectly in keeping with the theme of "Ray of Sunshine".

I started by heat embossing the images.  One card was heat embossed using WOW! Gold Rich Pale Embossing Powder and the other with Ranger Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder.  To watercolor the butterflies, I used Tim Holtz Distress Markers in Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean.  For the butterfly bodies, I used Weathered Wood.

This is all really simple and straightforward coloring.  I took another watercolor class last week and suffice it to say that I need a LOT of practice and I'm not sure the practice will help at all.  I don't seem to have the ability to freehand anything but at least I understand the mechanics of how to do it now. So until that time, I plan to continue with what I'm doing. Tim Holtz Distress Markers and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens continue to be my favorite mediums for watercolor.  The Distress Markers are a bit more predictable for color as long as you know what happens to the color when you add a bit of water to it since they are made specifically to react with water.  For example, Seedless Preserves is one of my very favorite Distress Ink Colors.  I like to call it my little extrovert because it goes down purple but when you add the tiniest drop of water, it becomes a pink-y purple. I don't use my Distress Markers or my Zig Pens for anything other than watercolor.

Once I had the butterflies painted, I spritzed the whole panel all over with Tsukineko Sheer Shimmer Spritz. It's less expensive to buy a whole new bottle than it is to buy the refill. You have to use a really light touch and hold this at least a foot above so that there isn't enough moisture to make the color run in your carefully painted image.

To finish, I die cut each of the panels with the largest rectangle from the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Dies.  I very carefully used my powder pouch on both of those panels so I could stamp a greeting from the Acts of Kindness Stamp Set from Hero Arts.  I mounted both on a Mint Card Base made from Simon Says Stamp 100# Mint Card Stock.  It would have been easier to heat emboss it before the water color, but I had planned to use a die cut greeting that turned out to be too large in the end.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and if you'd care to leave a comment, I really enjoy them.  Have a great rest of the week!   

The Yellow Rose of Texas

I wanted to send a card to someone who lost their husband recently.  I sent a card at the time, but I wanted her to know we are still thinking of her and that we know what a significant loss that is in her life. I always love the look of white on white cards and today was no exception.

I stamped the rose from the Clearly Besotted Merci Beaucoup Stamp Set and the Hero Arts Acts of Kindness Stamp Set in Versamark for the greeting.  I was told that yellow is a favorite color and since she lives in Texas, I thought of The Yellow Rose of Texas for this card using WOW! Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder.  I have to say that I love that embossing powder.  I also have the WOW! Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder and both are just beautiful. 

I haven't had the chance lately to talk about the differences in embossing powders so since I was doing quite a bit of heat embossing for the granddaughters to watercolor today, I pulled out a powder that I haven't used lately.  It was complete and total frustration as it takes forever to melt and I won't be purchasing any of that brand in the future.  I don't think it is very nice to "bash" a specific product in such a public forum (a blog), but I can say that I will talk about the products I do like and why. That is just my personal policy regarding any of the products I talk about here.

Besides the WOW! Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder, the Simon Says Stamp Gold Metallic Ultra Fine Embossing Powder is a favorite, even over Ranger Embossing Powder.  It melts quickly and easily and is very fine for great detail in your heat embossing while being less expensive than some of the other brands. When the embossing powder doesn't melt quickly, it tends to really warp your paper during the heat setting phase.  I won't throw this embossing powder away, but it will go to the back of my drawer for use only when I don't have a preferred brand which I hope never happens.  Honestly, I thought maybe I hadn't remembered correctly at the time, but I did.  It took about ten times longer to heat set that particular powder.  Also the Simon Says Brand is twice as much powder for less or equal money so that is a win-win to me.  

I used Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Mustard Seed and Mowed Lawn for the leaves.  I looked at using a few different markers or Clean Color Real Brush Pens, but I liked the warmer undertones of this yellow. Once I had watercolored the rose, I cut the panel using the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle die.  I made a 110# Top Folding Card Base from Stamper's Select White from Paper Trey Ink. I am just trying this card stock for the very first time but I love the heavy weight and the smoothness of this card stock.  I also think it is a good value for the quantity, quality and smoothness at $6.00 for 40 sheets.  I've used Stampin' Up's Whisper White but the heavy weight is quite a bit pricier for fewer sheets.  I would definitely try this card stock in other colors as well.  As always, I added some sheer shimmer spritz to the panel once it was cut before adhering it to the card base using Tombo Mono Adhesive.  The final Touch was Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer Pen.

I'll be back soon with another project as I have a couple to finish up for another project that I was working on before Christmas.

A Bit of Kindness

I sat down in my studio yesterday afternoon to create a card for a friend to let her know I've been thinking of her. I love this "Beautiful Day" Stamp Set from Altenew so for this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge I wanted to "make it sparkle".  The easiest way I know of to do this is to use your Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer Pen instead of water or a water brush with a Distress Marker.   

This watercolor is super simple as I only used two colors to paint the image.  I'm pretty sure I have never seen a flower in real life this color, but I adore it.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Markers in Peacock Feathers and Mowed Lawn to color the entire image.  I stamped the image using a simple mask to add the leaves.  I used WOW! Metallic Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder for the image and the sentiment from the Hero Arts Acts of Kindness Stamp Set.  You might remember that Hero Arts created this for the November Jennifer McGuire Ink Share Handmade Kindness Challenge.  

The one thing I have learned since I started making cards is that people really appreciate getting a card in the mail so much.  Especially in this day and age of texting and instant communication, it means a lot when you take the time to create something and send it in the mail. 

On my previous project, I could not seem to get it photographed accurately so I was happy to see that wasn't the case with this image.  You can see all of the sparkle and shimmer on this card.  I really think a top folded card photographs better than a side folded card which is why I usually make top folding cards.



I used Canson Bristol 96# Watercolor Paper for this front panel and after coloring the image I spritzed it all over with with Tsukineko Sheer Shimmer Spritz.  I really like the Bristol Paper because it is so smooth. Simon Says Stamp carries the Strathmore Bristol.  However, if you haven't done much watercoloring, you'll likely want something a bit heavier to hold up to more water while you are learning.  I also like the Canson XL 140# Watercolor Paper but it isn't as white as the Bristol.  The Canson Bristol is a soft white while the Canson XL is cream colored.

Once I had everything watercolored, I cut the panel with my all time favorite, Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles in the largest size.  For the super narrow border I am showing in this card, you end up trimming about 1/4 inch off one side of the A2 card base.  That makes it fit my watercolored panel.  As long as I use inexpensive card bases, then I can keep using better quality papers or watercolor paper for my front panels.  Sometimes I will use my better quality paper for the card base, but those cards tend to be single layer cards rather than just a base card.  I hope that makes sense.

I have more projects on the way and it will soon be time to get some Valentine's Day cards made. Thanks for stopping by to spend a bit of time here today. I always really appreciate it when you leave comments so feel free to do so!

So Kind

Today's card is a complete and total CASE from Jennifer McGuire all the way down to the stamp set and die cuts she used here.  I even used the same kind of water color that she used but I didn't have any little helpers to make backgrounds for me so I created a couple of my own.  I was able to cut 2 hearts out of each background that I colored using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Water Color Set. One background I did completely at random and the other I intentionally made the ombre stripes.  Jennifer used her set of Finetec Mica Watercolors for the gold shimmer but mine have been back ordered and only shipped today, so I dipped my wet paint brush into my Perfect Gold Perfect Pearls and used that with a liberal amount of water for my top layer.  The backgrounds have a beautiful shimmer to them.

Since I knew that I would be painting these backgrounds in their entirety, I used my "not quite as white" Canson XL 140# Watercolor Paper for these.  I pulled some of the little pans of color out of my set and misted them with a short spritz of water to get the color moving a little bit.  The bottles I have came from Stampin' Up but this one by Judikins would work great as it has a very fine mist.

After I cut out my hearts using the Memory Box Stitched Heart Layers in the largest size, I lined up my coordinating die to go across the heart leaving the word, a top piece and a bottom piece.  Using a temporary adhesive, I put all three pieces down on my card front to line it up, then pulled out the word so that I could stamp the word in exactly the right spot.  Once I stamped that in Versamark, I pulled the top and bottom pieces off temporarily so that I could heat emboss it using Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder from WOW!  I didn't want any stray bits of embossing powder to stick to the heart parts until I was finished melting the powder on my sentiment. WOW! treats their embossing powders to be static free, but it's always a good idea to use a powder tool or embossing buddy first. WOW! is available in 136 different styles and colors from Simon Says Stamp, so there is something for everyone. Next, I adhered the top and bottom of the hearts back into place using a permanent adhesive.



This "Being Classy" stamp set is from a newer stamp company, Concord & 9th. The coordinating dies cut the outline only so this is why it works for this technique.  There are several words included in the set to make multiple greetings that are thankful or encouraging.  I think a thorough review of all my coordinating sets is in order to determine what other cards are possible using this same technique.  One of the best things about this card is that it is highly mailable.  There's no foam popping up the front panel that might get squished.  I seldom make a single layer card and this is easily the nicest one I have ever done.

The card bases are all made from Bazzill Marshmallow in a top folding A2 standard sized card. For the hearts, I swiped a piece of white card stock across my Versamark Ink Pad then sprinkled Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder on it to make an exact match. Using the Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts Set die after I heat set that, I cut 3 rows of hearts for my 3 cards.  I'll keep the extras in a little container that I keep of spare parts.  I attached a few of the hearts randomly on each of my cards using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  Just to keep everything in place, I laid a large acrylic block on top for a couple of minutes.

One of the words with a matching die for this set is "courageous" and I plan to make a card for each of my friends who are currently battling Breast Cancer. Thanks for stopping by today.  Please feel free to leave me any questions or comments.

A Note of Thanks With a Bit of Kindness Thrown In

Beautiful Day by Altenew

Today's card uses a few new things I've gotten recently.  The stamp set is from Altenew and is called "Beautiful Day".  I just love the outline image in this set that I can watercolor. It is actually a 4-part layering set, but I haven't tried it that way yet simply because I love to watercolor. This set was released just this month and I ordered it from Altenew the very first hour it was available for purchase on their website. I was sitting at my computer waiting for the appointed hour to arrive. Yes, you can make fun of me if you want, but hey, I know what I like.

One of the things that struck me when I first saw this set is that the flowers also look like Wild Roses and I will use it for that as well. This is a larger stamp set than most of mine set at 5 3/4 x 8 inches.  The large majority of my stamp sets are 4 x 6 inches.

There are several stamps included in this set including some floral branches and some sentiments that I will definitely use.  I've only recently figured out how to create a scene using masking for a realistic look, but this set has been pretty easy so far.

Acts of Kindness by Hero Arts

As a part of the Share Handmade Kindness campaign by Jennifer McGuire, Ink, Hero Arts designed the "Acts of Kindness" stamp set and is donating 25% of the profits to the Kind Campaign which is an international movement trying to end girl on girl bullying. Everyone could use a little more kindness in their life, don't you think?  I love all of these sentiments but especially the one that says, "throw kindness around like confetti".  I also love the little envelope and the hearts that you can add to your greeting.  What a great set for "Thank You" Cards as well.  I always sign my cards to friends with "sending hugs" so I really love that this sentiment is included in the set.

I also tried out a new embossing powder from WOW! in the color Platinum Sparkle.  The photo doesn't do a very good job of portraying how beautiful this embossing powder is so you will have to take my word for it.

For the floral image, I used Zig Kuretake Clean Color Real Brush Pens in Violet, Cobalt Blue and Deep Green for the leaves.  I cut the watercolor panel with the largest of the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles and adhered that to a piece of "Grape" card stock from Creative Memories using Ranger Multi Medium Matte. I attached that to a standard A2 top folding card base.   The Clean Color Real Brush Pens have some of the most vibrant and transparent colors you will ever see for watercolor. To finish up, I used Wink of Stella in clear on the flower and all of the leaves.  In this case, I am using this card to send a note of thanks to someone who loves both, flowers and watercolor. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I will be back soon with another project to share with you.