Watercolor for Cardmakers - Intermediate Techniques

Way back in early December, I signed up for another Online Card Class so you are likely to see lots of watercolor related images and posts this week. Online Card Classes are a fantastic way to learn with the ease of attending class in your jammies if that's what you want to do. With my time and my schedule, this works for me anytime.  I just grab my cup of hot tea as I go through the kitchen and head to my studio first thing every morning.  Sometimes my puppy sits on my lap and continues snoozing but more often than not, she prefers to stay in the bed and keep snoozing.  

Yesterday's class was all about getting comfortable with our brushes and doing washes.  Let me just preface this by saying that I am no expert. I love what I learned but I need a whole lot more practice.  But I like understanding the mechanics of something in order to do it appropriately. The foundations that were taught were fantastic and the reasons I signed up for the class, after all.

This card shares only one of the techniques that we were shown yesterday and I would have to say that initially I didn't think I was going to like mine because it's not "neat" enough for me. I like really clean graphic lines.  But once I erased my faint pencil lines it was okay.  Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but really, okay.  It's a whole lot more organic than my usual style. You always have to wait to see what it looks like when it's dry because it will be different. The colors are never quite what I thought they would be when they dry, so it has a bit of a surprise element. Dawn Woleslagle (the Owner/Founder of WPLUS9 Design Studios) is teaching these classes and anytime I can get one of her classes I jump at the chance.  She is a fantastic watercolor aritist in her own right. 

I'm pretty sure that you can tell in this picture that we were utilizing the shape of our flat brush to achieve this Art Deco Style background.  Using a T-Ruler we created a very faint diamond grid on this piece.  After we water colored and allowed time for drying, we erased all of the pencil lines which made the whole thing look a lot cleaner and neater.  We mixed our own paints but I could not tell you what my ratios were for paint to paint or paint to water.  Until it seemed to be the right amount of red & yellow to create the coral and then the red.  The heart was a "failed" bit of watercolor that I practiced some brushstrokes on and painted again with mostly straight Alizarin Crimson to get that depth of color.  I also water colored the edges so it would appear to be a solid color paper from the side.  The pink was a very watered down bit of the original red shade.  

As the lesson intended, I learned more about how much water is needed for the particular technique you are using. There is wet to wet and wet to dry.  In the case of wet to wet, you're giving the watercolor a path to travel on by first painting that path with clean, clear water.  I haven't mastered this by any stretch of the imagination but I'm beginning to get a feel for it.  Like anything that you want to do well, it takes practice. The class doesn't conclude for two weeks so I have several days of class and practice in front of me.    

I cut the background panel (after it was dry) with the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles in the largest size.  I cut the heart with the 2nd largest in theLittle B Stitched Hearts Die Set.  I adhered that heart to a die cut fun foam heart that is slightly smaller than the red heart using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  This helps to keep everything flat when you attach it to your background panel. That's about the maximum amount of thickness I like.  Mono Adhesive doesn't really work on the craft foam that I have so the Multi Medium Matte works great for this.  With such a busy background, I wanted to keep the greeting very simple. 

Next, I stamped the heart using Versamark (after it was dry) and I used my powder tool on it to make sure I didn't get any stray particles of embossing powder on it. I used WOW! Gold Rich Pale embossing powder which is a warmer, deeper gold than any others I have.  With the soft ivory background and card base, it was the perfect choice for this card. A few glitter hearts cut from a scrap of glitter paper using the Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts Die and I'm calling this done!  The stamp set I used is the Simon Says Stamp All About Love Set. 

Now I'm off to get my homework uploaded to the class gallery and do some other homework so I'll catch you later in the week with more watercolor goodness!  Thanks so much for visiting.

Comparing Mediums

I never, ever thought I would say that water coloring relaxes me.  Something about doing it just seems to soothe my soul.  I am so glad I took the Online Card Class - Watercolor for Card Makers, Exploring Mediums.  I mean, who knew? While I am not water coloring freehand, I am very happy with the looks I've been able to achieve.  The class I took is specifically for card makers and it was well worth it.

This little beauty is going out in the morning mail along with a couple of others I've made.  I used a 4 x 11 Whisper White Card Base with a top fold at 5.5 inches.  The largest blue panel is Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Card Stock in Island Blue. The center panel is SU! Tempting Turquoise. Then I stamped this flower on my 140# watercolor paper and heat set it using Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder.   Once the image had set, I could paint it with my Mermaid Lagoon and Shabby Shutters Distress Markers  I worked quickly with lots of water to get the background watercolored in a super soft & pleasing way. Once that was done, I could cut the top panel with the die I wanted to use and assemble my card.  

In order to be able to give a fair comparison of the different mediums, I stamped and heat embossed several of the same images on the same exact watercolor paper to see how they compared to each other.  The picture below isn't the best, but you get the idea.

So starting at the top left, the two watercolor backgrounds were achieved with Kuretake Gansai Tambi (traditional Japanese Watercolors).  It is very hard for me to be patient and let the water and color do their thing, but I did not speed that up by using a heat tool this time.  The blue/green background was achieved using #58 - Evergreen and #63 - Persian Blue.  This is at least 3 layers of color.  Maybe more, but I wasn't counting, lol.  For the pink/coral background, I used (surprisingly) #34 - Dark Pink with a whole lot of water and #31 - Scarlet Red also with lots of water.  I was able to determine what colors I would need because I swatched them.  The die cuts are just laying on top of these as I don't know when I will use them.  I keep a Ziploc baggie of things I have stamped, cut or colored for use later if I don't use them when I initially start to. Sometimes my color comes out differently than I think it will and I decide it doesn't match well enough.  So if it doesn't match at first, I just save it for another time.

The top left flower was colored using Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Mermaid Lagoon.  I love that color so much. The  top center flowers are colored in Worn Lipstick Distress Marker.

The top right flowers were colored using Water Color Crayon (a water soluble Oil Pastel *I think*) in some Regal Rose and Eggplant scribbled on to an acrylic block with some water mixed into it.  From there, you pick it up with your brush and move it to the "canvas".  The watercolor crayons were my least favorite type of water color, but I can use them for backgrounds pretty easily and they cover a lot of ground quickly.

The middle row blue floral was painted with Twinkling H2O's in Sky Blue and Forest Green with a water brush.  I have had my H20's for at least 10 years if not longer. It was a lot of fun to get them out and rediscover them today.  I have several very bright and bold colors as well as some iridescent colors.  I had forgotten how beautiful they are.  They already have that pearly shimmer, so I did not need to use Perfect Pearls.  Let's face it, if I made it, then it is probably going to have some shimmer in it somewhere!  The only thing I don't make that way is cards for guys.

The center row pinkish color flower is colored with Prima Watercolor Pencils. While these were much easier to use than I thought they would be, I still prefer the high translucence of  the distress markers over every other type or medium I have tried.  The Twinkling H20's come in a close second.  Simon Says Stamp has a great selection of these if you're interested in trying them.  The Watercolor Pencils do have an advantage in one way.  Once the "paint" is dry, it forms a sort of waxy finish over the top that helps to protect it somewhat from stray water drops or mist.

The bottom right and left flowers were colored with Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors while I did use Tumbled Glass Distress Marker for the soft blue sky. The bottom center image was colored completely with Distress Markers.  I have noticed that I'm also getting significantly faster at that method as well. Practice helps for sure!

I used Canson 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Paper for all of these flowers. I absolutely love how thick and crisp it makes the die cuts. This Altenew Persian Motifs is my first set of stamps and coordinating dies that I have purchased in that brand.  I will definitely buy again.  The quality is fantastic.

Isn't sending cards in the mail just the best feeling?  The recipients always love that you have made them a card.  Fun mail in the mailbox is not a very common thing and I know people really enjoy receiving a card.

I'll be back soon with more information and comparisons.  Class wraps up on Wednesday and I'm still on the hunt for the perfect Christmas Card too.  So I'll have lots more to show you in a day or two.

Class Practice Continues

I'm doing a whole lot of watercolor practice right now before class wraps up next week.  Some projects I feel hugely successful with and others not so much. Ninety-Nine percent of my card recipients are female so flower images are always good for those.

This image was colored using traditional Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor in #36 - Wine Red, and #58 - Evergreen with a Perfect Pearls Solution and some clean water.  I make my own solution with Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder and some water in a little sprayer bottle that came from Stampin' Up!.  You can buy Perfect Pearls Solution already made up and in a spray bottle.  I used the tiniest amount of #63 - Persian Blue, along with a VERY watered down bit of the Red Wine to achieve the super soft background.  One thing I have really learned this week is to walk away and let it dry.  The colors really come to life when they have a chance to dry.  Being a control freak, watercolor is very hard for me.  I have a hard time letting the water and the pigment do their thing.  This class has been so worth it to me for the the sheer amount of practice I'm getting.  I'm able to achieve the looks I desire for card making.  Even though I know people won't criticize a card they get in the mail, I still want my cards to be as nice as possible.

I love Altenew Stamps for the lined images they design.  They also have matching dies for many of their floral images.  This particular set is call Persian Motifs and I have the matching dies although I haven't used them yet.  The Henna Elements set is very nice as well as Peony Scrolls.  The images stamp super clean also with a thin line rather than a thicker one which is great for the "Emboss then Watercolor " technique.   Some people like bright white embossing powder for this technique but I like using Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder so that the embossing will be the same color as my watercolor paper.  In case I forgot to mention it before, the heat embossing helps the watercolor stay in the image and not go venturing outside of that line.

You all should be so proud of me because I got my Gansai Tambi Watercolors swatched!  I love this set so much now that I have had a chance to play with it following instruction.  Simon Says Stamp has this set available in 12, 18, 24 & 36 color sets.  Being Japanese Watercolors, they are extremely high quality.

I have about three different types of watercolor card stock at this time, but this one uses Canson Watercolor Paper.  It is 140# and cold pressed.  I haven't seen hot pressed paper at any of my local stores.  The difference is that hot pressed watercolor paper is very smooth.  I prefer to use the smooth side to my regular paper but you can also use the more textured side.  It just depends on the look you are going for.  Simon Says Stamp carries a wide variety of Professional Grade Arches Hot & Cold Pressed Watercolor Paper.  It's fancier than I need just for cards but I like to know where I can get it should I desire to experiment further, *wink*.

This card uses a white card base cut at 5.25 x 8.5 inches and top scored at 4.25 inches.   I used the WPLUS9 Sunshine Layers Die Set for the scalloped panel and the interior panel as well.  The burgundy is some Bazzill Mulberry which is a 100# weight.  I looked through my sentiment dies, but I didn't feel like any of them were a good fit on this card so I left it off this time.  I'm sending this card to my sweet Mother-In-Law who is at an assisted living facility.  She always loved cards when she was still able to be home so I think she enjoys the ones I make and send off to her.

Water Color for Card Makers - Day 3

Yesterday was Day #3 of my class.  We've done Watercolor Markers, Watercolor Pencils, Traditional Watercolor and Watercolor Crayons.  We'll have a wrap up day next week so I have time to practice techniques before then.

I did finish this super simple card from the Elephant I painted yesterday plus I have a few others assembled and will have more before Wrap Up day next week. This elephant was painted with traditional watercolor and I finished off the card with some "paint" spatters by mixing the color with a #2 Script Brush and tapping it off on to my background.  The script brush works really well for this because it has long bristles.  To keep it off the elephant, I used a mask cut from Post-It Tape.

I have a gorgeous card I am making out of this painted panel.  The stamp set is Persian Motifs from Altenew.  The photograph was taken before I did any work on the background.  Altenew has several sets of stamps that are line images for painting or coloring, so I have a few sets put on my wish list.  They also have the coordinating dies which is really nice.

This morning I sat down to try a couple of techniques from Wednesday's class which use Watercolor Pencils and a Wink of Stella Brush Pen.  This image was completed using Distress Markers in Spun Sugar for the cheek and ears with Pumice Stone for the Elephant's body.  I also have a floral image that I colored with Distress Markers and Perfect Pearls Solution and I hope to get a card made in a day or two.

For class on Day #3, I used my watercolor crayons to create a soft, striped wash of color, so I wanted to use that with Miss Ellie here.  That was a super quick way to create a background for a card and I'm pretty sure I will use it again and again. You simply color across the background in the color or colors of your choice and then apply water using a wide brush.  Mine is a traditional paint brush that has a chisel tip and is 3/4 inch wide.  There's a Tim Holtz Wide Water Brush available at Simon's or you can pick one up at a local arts and crafts store.  It took much longer for that background to dry than it did to create it.

Once my image was dry, I cut it in a circle using the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Circles Die.  Next came a layer of pink cut with Simon Says Stamp Stitched Squares and then I cut the striped panel with the next size up Stitched Square. My top folding card base is made from SU! Pink Pirouette.

I want to show you this card with the background painted in on the oval panel.  I used the same shade of pink and green that I used for the flower to do the soft background.  I love that it uses the same colors in softer tones.  This card is not quite finished as I need a greeting or sentiment on it.  But the hardest part is done.

For me, heat embossing the images with clear embossing powder is a total winner.  It helps you to "stay in the lines" to keep your image really clean.  I love that I learned how to make these beautiful watercolor backgrounds.

I'll be doing more practice with the techniques I learned this week but I wanted to go ahead and wrap up this post before it gets any longer.  *Wink*

Day 2 Results

Today I have Part II of a post about the Watercolor for Card Makers class I'm in this week.  There's a lot of "homework" so to speak with this class.  After all, you can't expect perfection if you don't practice.

So far, I have not found the traditional watercolors to be nearly as transparent as Distress Markers and Water Based Inks, but I haven't tried nearly all of them. I'm simply trying to learn to use what I already have on hand.  Since I am not doing Fine Art Paintings, I think the ones I currently have will be more than adequate. Again, these are my observations and opinions only.  Everyone needs to use what works for them.  I feel like traditional watercolors are just a bit milky and I prefer the transparent color of water based inks and distress markers.

I think Sakura Koi Tube Watercolors might be a good option to try, but I don't have any plans to purchase those.  I'm fine with the options I already have.  A method not explored so far in this class is using water based re-inkers to paint with.  I have a few of these around in some of my more used colors like bright pink, some sea blues, a leafy green, a purple and a coral.  To use these, just touch the dropper from a re-inker to your acrylic block and add a mist or some drops of water to dilute it to the strength of color you want.   These are completely transparent.  You can also use a solution of perfect pearls to add water and shimmer to the color and or to your card stock.  I've also found that by using my reinkers, the color is in a shade I already like vs. a traditional pallet where I have to mix my own color or I have several colors that haven't been used at all.  Since I don't come from an art background, mixing colors isn't as easy as it might seem.  I seldom get the color I was going for, but watercolor is very inexpensive, so I haven't lost more than a penny or two.

Today's class used more traditional water colors and some that I was only made aware of fairly recently.  I have a traditional watercolor set like the ones we used in grade school that is made by Loew Cornell.  There are 36 different little cakes of color and you can always mix your own colors if you're in to that sort of thing. I am not, but I did mix some greens today. This set contained a purple, so that is what I went for today!  I haven't swatched my watercolors yet, but I may consider doing this once class is completed.

Peerless Watercolors are completely new to me in the past month or two.  These look a lot like paint chips but there's only one color to a small sheet.  Most people swatch these and cut a 1 x 1 inch square of that color with the swatch for reference. When they run out of that color, they just cut another 1 inch square and put it in their swatch book.   The color is extremely highly concentrated and activates instantaneously with a touch of a damp brush or a water brush.  Just touching your damp brush to the "paint chip", you can take it directly to your watercolor paper and begin painting.  You might want to consider a more permanent paint pallet for tube watercolors so you can mix your own colors.  I use the same thing Kristina Werner does which is a laminated sheet of white card stock.  Mine is about 5 x 8 inches which is good for the number of colors I normally use and you can get a really accurate picture of the color when it's on the white background.  Mine has really thick lamination on it so I can run it under water to clean it off.   If you could see how messy my studio is right now, you would know that I need sturdy because I have a tendency to push things aside when I am in the middle of a project.

There are things like watercolor cube trays with lids for anyone working on large scale items who need the same paint color through a work of art or who need to store or transport watercolor without it dripping everywhere. I seriously had no idea all of these accouterments existed!  My grandmother taught herself to watercolor with the 99¢ crayola variety watercolors several (15 or 20) years ago. They didn't have much money, so that's what she used. Her grandmother was a semi-famous artist from Tulsa and it was something she wanted to learn so she did.

I have traditional watercolors in two different kinds (found here and here), Distress Markers, Watercolor Pencils and SU! Watercolor Wonder Crayons which aren't even available anymore.  Simon Says Stamp has a set of 15 available here that includes a brush.  As always, you can also use a Water Brush.

I have a few traditional brushes (Size 3, 4, 6 & 9 round) that mostly came in this set from Ranger that are fine quality for the things I am doing.  I have just a couple of others including a size 2 script brush and one that is 3/4 of an inch wide for simple color stripes or washes.   I tried both and for me, I think the Water Brush was easier with less drying time.

It's been so much fun this week to get to use supplies that I already have but didn't necessarily know how to use. I've learned so many techniques.  I also learned that water color is far more about the impression of light, shadow and texture than about actually being able to draw well. For me, this class is a total winner.  

I wanted to take a photo mid-process so that you could see my board that I tape watercolor paper onto, and how truly small an amount of color it takes for watercolor.  Dawn Woleslagle, owner of WPLUS9, did a vintage storybook painting with the Unforgettable set that she designed and I have wanted to imitate it since then. I used traditional Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors for this.  For the gray of the elephant and the ground around him, I used #20-Black with a whole lot of water. For the pink of the cheeks and inside the ears I used #32-Red.  For the balloon I mixed the #50-Pale Aqua with a hint of #63-Persian Blue.  Just four colors in total.  The nice thing about this set is that you can remove the little pans of color to keep only what you are using near you.  The rest of them can stay out of the way.  The colors are highly concentrated pigments so I'm pretty sure I have enough paint here to last for the rest of my life and then some!

For this card, I stamped my images in SU! Smoky Slate and heat embossed in Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder.  You have to work very quickly to be able to get any embossing powder on the super fast drying ink, but I did manage.  That process makes watercolor simple for anyone, not just me.  It helps keep the water where it should be and doesn't let it creep beyond the outline of the image.  For me and watercolor to get along, this is a must do step!  It also helps to choose an image that will be simple to paint or color.  I have never really appreciated line images before now and I can't wait to check my stash to see other stamps that I can use.

I haven't completed a card yet, but I did use my Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Pen on the balloon. Today's class used Watercolor Pencils with Wink of Stella to color the images. I haven't tried that yet, but it's on my list to try this week.

There are still several mediums that haven't been explored in this class such as Brushos, Color Crystals, Dr. Ph. Martins Liquid Watercolors and I'm sure there are others that I've never heard of yet. If I haven't talked about it or mentioned it here, then I am not aware of it yet.  I'm a card maker rather than an artist so I don't really need more options.

I had another class today so I'll be back with more insights and observations in my next blog post.

Online Card Class - Watercolor for Card Makers

This is going to be a multi-part post! I'm not sure yet how many parts it's going to be.  When I started, I was planning to do only one post but it's too long and detailed for that.  Hopefully the others won't be quite as long.

More than a month ago, I signed up to take on Online Card Class which would be exploring watercolor mediums.  This class is taught by a few of my favorite papercrafters in the industry, including my absolute favorite, Jennifer McGuire.   I never knew there were so many ways and supplies to watercolor!  I'm going to get into a few of them with today's post.

These observations are from my practice after the classes.  By now, I have completed two of them.  Let me preface everything by saying that I do not have any kind of art background.  In fact, I never took art classes in school because I was never considered to be artistic in the very least.  So these thoughts come from a true novice.

There are so many mediums for watercolor that I never even knew or thought about.  Yesterday's class used Water Based Markers.  Who knew there were so many watercolor markers out there?  Not me although in the last 6 months, I had discovered Distress Markers which are quickly becoming my favorite because of their transparent color and ease of use.  A couple other types that were explored are ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Markers which actually have a real brush tip, Spectrum Aqua  and Tombow Markers.  The ZIG Clean Color Brushes are available in multi-packs of up to 60 as well as individually.  There are about 80 colors in all but so far they don't have a complete set available.  The same is true of Distress Markers. The Tombow and Spectrum Aqua Markers are sold in groups of colors.  The were no requirements to purchase anything for the class and we were encouraged to use what we already had on hand.  For me, that was Tim Holtz Distress Markers.  Any water based markers work for this technique although Tim Holtz Distress Inks seem to work particularly well. They are made to activate and reactivate with water so they are a great choice for watercolor. Copic Markers are alcohol based and do not work for this technique.

Earlier this summer, I purchased a set of 12 Tim Holtz Distress Markers using a coupon at an area Arts & Crafts kind of store.  I wasn't sure I would like them, so I didn't want to get too many or invest too much money to begin with.  I'm fairly certain the group I purchased were a "Vintage" collection rather than "Brights". This would be pretty consistent with my style.

I had originally purchased (several years ago) some 90# watercolor paper.  For how much water these techniques use, that paper is not heavy enough and it does pill after a kind of medium amount of brushwork.  It would be fine for simple color washes with no detailing.  I was, of course, initially trying to save money and really didn't understand why hot or cold pressed and why heavier might be better.  Part of my class was a video about the different types of paper and why you would choose one over the other so I had already gotten some 140# watercolor card stock.  For practice and simple color washes, the 90# is okay. There are other differences as well including how white or bright the watercolor paper is.  A lot of people seem to like Ranger because it is a fairly bright white.  I haven't tried very many, so you'll have to select what you personally like. Another thing to think about is the texture of the paper.  I thought I would like the rough side of watercolor paper for the texture it gives, but it turns out that I much prefer the smooth side for the techniques I use.

I want to talk a little about Distress Inks here.  These inks are formulated to work with water just like any other water based inks or markers. That makes them particularly well suited to use for watercolor methods and techniques.   I've done other posts where I talk about a few of the techniques.  I'm sure there will be many in my future as well.  Overall, I think Distress Inks tend to be a more "watered down" or "faded" color so it takes less time to get to a proper dilution of the color you were looking for than a traditional watercolor marker. You might have the ink pads and not the markers or vice-versa.  In my case, I have 5 of the ink pads from a class I did years ago and 15 or so markers.  If you only have the ink pads, you can "stamp" some color directly onto an acrylic block or your craft mat, then add water to get a soft color wash.  You can apply that using a traditional paint brush or a water brush.  I actually tried both ways during yesterday's class but ultimately went with the regular paint brush so that  I could control the amount of water.  A water brush will release a very slow but steady stream of water for you.  Go ahead and spend a little extra for a good brush that has a valve in it so it doesn't suck dirty water into itself; you'll be glad you did!

One of the things I like best about this class is the fact that I can produce consistent results.  Previously, it was a trial and error process to find what worked and then I had to actually remember what I had tried so I could replicate it.  This class teaches specific techniques to use with each type of medium.  A big factor in being successful is working on a very small area at a time.  I'm not going to go into a detailed description of each thing I did to make my cards. There are lots of "how to" videos already out there.  I'm just going to share whichever technique and medium I used and leave you to try what you want or what works for you.  We're all better when we do that versus someone saying it must be done "this way only".   Part of the reason that I liked this particular class is that I already had some form of each medium we will be using for the class and I wasn't required to purchase anything new.  That's always a winner for me.

For my card, I stamped my image in Versamark Ink and heat it set using Simon Says Stamp Clear Extra Fine Embossing Powder.  I could have used White or any other color of embossing powder, but clear makes it the exact color of my paper which can be different from brand to brand.  You can do whichever you like.  After that, I taped my stamped image to a small acrylic cutting board that has a handle so it can be easily moved between layers of color or drying time.   Next I gave my watercolor paper an all over mist with plain water and a wide paint brush to work it into the paper. This Water Brush from Tim Holtz is a nice one.  I feel that this helps keep the color from being too deep of a "stain" when you are first starting.  It's a matter of personal preference, not a requirement. Probably when I get more comfortable with watercolor, I won't feel quite so scared of it.  But for now, this is what I'm doing.

I took my distress marker and started coloring each petal of the flower with just a stroke or two of color.  I just put some color at the base of the petal where it would naturally be the deepest color because of shadows and highlights and then worked the color outward with a damp brush for each petal.  I did each petal in the soft color before adding my first color to my leaves and then added each color layer one at a time.  For my flowers I used "Worn Lipstick".   You absolutely have to use a piece of scratch paper to check the ink color for any marker you might choose.  It is seldom what the cap color indicates so always check to see that it's at least in the color family you were wanting.  Some colors may be more blue based while others may be more yellow based, which is the main difference between a cool color and a warm color.   As a former photographer, I am a color maniac.  Some other day I will explain what I mean by that, but not today - LOL!  Watercolor is all about interpretation so it's all preference from this point on.

Line images (images with little or no detail) make the best choice for watercoloring.   The WPLUS9 Design Studio "Unforgettable" Set is one I've used before and will be trying again with watercolor instead of Copic Markers later today.  In fact, I fell in love with it after seeing a video that Dawn Woleslagle watercolored using this set.  Altenew also has some great images and I am sure there are many other companies as well.  I'm just thinking off the top of my head here. The one I am using in this case is from Stampin Up and it's actually the first time I have used it.  It sure makes me wonder what else I have that can be used for watercolor sitting in the bottom of my studio closet to check out sometime.  For the leaves I started with Bundled Sage.  After my first layer of color dried, I mixed some Crushed Olive and Shabby Shutters on an acrylic block to get a less bright, more realistic green.  

For the background, I just put a couple of short strokes of  Tumbled Glass marker at a time directly to the paper and worked it outward with a lot of water. I've tried to get this effect previously but after my first class yesterday is the first time I've been successful.  I was surprised at how easy watercolor has been to achieve with just a bit of instruction.  Go Me!  When the color was completely dry, I misted it all over with a solution of perfect pearls to give it some shimmer and let the whole thing dry before removing it from my cutting board.

Once that dried, I cut the watercolor panel using a My Favorite Things Stitched Oval in the largest size. Next I cut the Stitched & Scalloped Rectangle Die from the Sunshine Layers set.   In keeping with the "painted" style, I used the Simon Exclusive Painted Hello die on some white shimmer paper.  I cut the word three times and glued them in a stack for added dimension.  I used Bazzill Card Shoppe Marshmallow for my card base.  This card stock is a 100# weight and makes beautiful cards.

I didn't take too many photos of this card as I have several in progress right now. I'll be back soon with more observations from my Online Card Class.