Hello and welcome to the August My Favorite Things Design Team Creative Challenge! Watercolor is a medium that’s been around forever but is experiencing a resurgence in popularity in the crafting, card-making, and scrapbooking world. This month, the MFT Design Team will show you ways to achieve the look with stamps, stencils, and inks!
(Products used for each project are linked below each project. Click on any photo for a larger view).
My first project is a card which uses a stencil to create a watercolor background:
I didn't have the Chevron Stencil, so I die cut some blank stencil material (plastic) with my Chevron Cover-Up Die-namics and taped it to a piece of watercolor paper with washi tape. Next, I placed drops of MFT's Premium Dye Ink Refills (Berylicious and Blu Raspberry) into the lids of their coordinating ink pads and used a water brush to pick up and/or water down the ink as needed.
TIP: Using the lids as a palette allows any unused ink to remain in the lid and be used at a later time and/or a lot of unused refill can just drain back onto the ink pad:
(Above): I alternated painting the rows of chevrons with the blue colors.
TIP: Color slowly if you want a little less messy look than I achieved here -- color will probably seep under the stencil if you aren't careful. You could also use a repositionable/non-permanent adhesive on the stencil, to make sure it is nice and snug against the paper if you want crisper lines. I didn't mind the color seeping outside the lines of the stencil -- I think it just adds to the wonderful free-form nature of watercolor!
While the background was drying, I die cut the base of the Rose with Overlay from watercolor paper and gave it a base coat of Cotton Candy Ink Refill. No need to be precise here since we'll have an overlay that goes on top, which will define the edges of the petals:
(Above): Next, I gave some definition and shading to the petals, using darker Razzle Berry Ink Refill, using the embossed lines of the die as a guide.
I die cut the rose overlay from Smooth White cardstock, adhered it to the rose, and popped it up on foam tape over the card base. To finish the card, I trimed the chevron panel and popped it up over a Smooth White card base stamped on the left side in Black Licorice Premium Dye Ink and a Border It-Mod Border. The sentiment is from Sweet Roses.
{Chevron Rose Thanks Card Supplies}
Other Supplies: Ranger 8-1/2" x 11" watercolor paper, water brush, Copic Foam Tape & X-Press It Glue Marker, blank plastic stencil material
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My next project is my 6-inch September calendar:
Here, I cheated a little and achieved a watercolor look by using stamps! First, I cut a piece of watercolor paper 6" x 6" and stamped Thankful Leaves with Paver Red, Tangy Orange and Factory Green Premium Dye Inks, then spritzed them with water. I worked in one section at a time, to help avoid too much muddying/bleeding of the colors:
The colors will start running and bleeding so have a tissue or paper towel handy, to blot the water and keep it from washing out too much of the shape of the stamp. Watch closely, because it will happen quickly (Note: the blob in the lower right corner above is what will happen if you don't have your towel ready, LOL)!
Above, I stamped and misted the leaves along the left side, allowed the paper to dry a little, then stamped the leaves along the top/right corner and one orange leaf at the bottom. The photo was taken before I spritzed these freshly-stamped leaves with water.
Once all my leaves were all stamped and dry, I went back with the same inks and stamped the coordinating veins. The script from this stamp set was then stamped randomly in Kraft Premium Dye Ink.
TIP: When watercoloring, the paper will most likely buckle and/or warp at least a little. Taping the paper to a work surface while working and letting the piece dry will help to prevent warping. You can also use your acrylic stamping blocks (or something else with a little weight to it) to place on the paper while it is drying.
The Journal It-Calendar Basics grid was stamped in Kraft ink and the numbers in Factory Green, onto Primitive White cardstock. die cut with Postage Stamp STAX and popped up on foam tape. The Accent It-Months of the year (September) was die cut from Tangy Orange cardstock. Pretty Paver Red (a beautiful rich burgundy color) cardstock was used as the calendar base.
One final note -- If you haven't checked out the brand new beautiful MFT Boutique, you simply must! It's packed with tons of improvements like a product zoom tool, the ability to sort product categories several different ways, pertinent info links on the front page, not to mention the wonderful scolling top banner that features pretty sample artwork!
Be sure to check out the MFT Blog for a list of all the designers who have a project to share with you today . . . Thanks so much for joining us!
{September Leaves Calendar Supplies}
Other Supplies: Ranger 8-1/2" x 11" watercolor paper, Copic foam tape, water spray bottle
