Has Spring Sprung?

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I am a big fan of Jennifer McGuire.  I think her how-to videos are some of the very best out there on YouTube.  Educated as an Engineer, she automatically thinks about how to make everything work.  Earlier this week she made the card you see on the left.  I absolutely loved it so I set out to try and make something similar with items I already had although I confess, I really want those Paper Smooches Bird Houses in my tool box!  I have an older die that creates a birdhouse from Quickutz that I have never used before so this was the perfect opportunity to use it along with my WPLUS9 Folk Art Floral Designer Die.

I started with a 4.25 x 5.5 Arches (pronounced Ar-Chez) 140# Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper.  Hot pressed paper is smoother than cold pressed paper. I knew I was going to be using a lot of water for my background and the 140# holds more water.  I have quite a bit of this watercolor paper left from my most recent watercolor class. It's more cream than white but for a background that was going to be covered completely, it didn't matter.  Using my Gansai Tambi Watercolors in color #56 - Marine Green, I very loosely gave the panel an overall wash of color using a quite a bit of water. I set that aside to let it dry as I knew I would be adding a second color to the mix. For the next layer I used Finetec Mica Watercolor Paint in Inca Gold.  I used a lot of water once again and let the gold paint pool where it wanted to and allowed it to dry naturally.  By doing it this way, the gold layers on top of the green in a marble-y looking way.

I die cut the birdhouse from several scraps of the same Arches Watercolor Paper and cut it again from White Fun Foam.  Jennifer used 6 layers glued one on top of the other for her die cuts to give the thick chipboard appearance but I figured I'd use fun foam as my underneath layer and save a few steps.  I also cut the two birds from the WPLUS9 Folk Art Floral Designer Die using the watercolor paper but without the fun foam. The birdhouse die includes the shutters for the window but I chose not to use them so that I could have my window open.  I adhered everything together using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

I die cut the background panel with my absolute favorite Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die in the largest size and started assembling everything together on a 4.25 x 5.25 top folding card base made from Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White.  The little heart on the door is one of those extras from a previous cut that I keep to use later.  The "Hello" is Papertrey Ink's Noted Die.

I don't have any embroidery floss around so I used several strands of a Coats & Clarks Gold Metallic Thread for the hanger.  I secured that to the back of the watercolor panel using a piece of packing tape since that is what is on my desk at this moment.

The new Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for this week is "Anything Goes" so I'll be entering this over there.  Thanks for stopping by today and I'll be back soon with another project.  

Avery Elle's "Love"

My card for the blog today is one that I water colored before the class I'm in right now.  I water colored a piece of 140# Canson Watercolor Paper using Red #31 in the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors Set. I chose that color because it has a more orange-y tone and most guys really like Orange.  I used a #8 Round Silver Black Velvet brush for this.  It was pretty saturated with color and water, so I had to just set it aside to dry.

After a couple of hours tending to other things, I came back and put a spritz of water onto my Finetec Gold Palette in the color Inca Gold which is the warmest gold color in the palette of 6.  Using the same brush as before, I dabbed the gold paint on over the red very randomly and then left that to dry while I continued with other things (a.k.a. Laundry, Housework or Dinner).  When I came back, the gold watercolor paint had blended with the red and made a very marbled look on the card stock.  To enhance this look, I ran that piece of card stock through my die cutting machine with the embossing pad and a clean, unmarked cutting plate. If you use a plate that has any marks on it, they will be left behind on your card stock.  It has to be an uncut cutting plate.  I discovered this quite by accident when I was attempting to simply flatten out a piece of watercolor paper on a previous occasion but using the same paints.  And the surface of the watercolor paper really smooths out when you do this as well.  I usually do it a few times, increasing the thickness with a piece of card stock for a shim.  The maximum number of sheets I've been able to use for the shim is 2 of the Stampin' Up 80# colored card stock sheets.  I don't want it so thick it breaks my machine or that I can't crank it through and this has done the job for me. In the Cuttlebug, the sandwich goes like this from the bottom up:  A Plate, Card Stock Shim(s), B Plate, Grey Embossing Pad, the water colored piece face up and unmarked B Plate on the top.  Run it though, but if it feels too tight in your machine, back it out and remove the shim from the sandwich., then run it again.  I usually crank mine through about 4 times.  This makes the surface so super smooth you can only imagine and it makes the gold paint look even more like marble.  I was unable to capture that in my photograph for you, but trust me, it's there.

I started assembling the card by making a standard A2 Top Folding Note Card using Simon Says Stamp Lipstick Red Card Stock.  I cut a doily from a Stampin' Up Doily Die I have using metallic gold foil card stock.  I could have placed the doily in the center behind the heart but I like the little bit of visual interest that comes from having something unexpected.  Next I cut the Avery Elle "Love" Die using more Gold Metallic Card Stock.  Then I cut the heart out of the faux marbled paper using the Little B Stitched Hearts Dies.  I cut a slightly smaller craft foam heart to put on the backside of the heart giving it dimension without it sagging in the center.  You could use foam tape or squares if your embellishment is small enough but for the larger pieces, I like using the fun foam to provide the more stable dimension.

This was a simple card as I only had to leave the watercolor to dry while I did other things. Then when it was dry, I created the rest of the pieces and assembled. I'm trying to come up with a few Valentine Card Designs that are more masculine to send to those special fellas in my life - grandsons!  I think this is not too bad, but the doily is probably too feminine for them so I haven't decided on one yet.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you'll be back soon!