Creative Watercolor Media

I just love the look of watercolor so you can imagine that I was quite excited to get into this unit of work. The first stamp that I purchased from Altenew was their Garden Hydrangea set because they are one of my favourite types of flowers. It is the perfect pairing for this activity, as far as I am concerned. Who does not love those gorgeously dreamy flowers!

In this unit of work you learn a variety of way that you can achieve different watercolor looks using a range of materials and techniques. I choose to use my Altenew Crisp Dye Inks to create my hydrangeas. Scroll through the photos to see how I made my card.

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  I started by white embossing my image on watercolor paper.

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  The embossing creates a barrier for the ink and traps it within the walls.

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  These were some of the inks I used. They were smooshed onto a glass media mat and watered down with an aqua brush.

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  This technique can make anyone’s work look professional. The water, paper and ink does the work.

I ended up painting two hydrangeas for my card so that I would be able to have some dimenson. Once the pictures were dry they were then die cut using the coordinating die and set aside so I could work on the background.

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  As I created the background I used a previously learnt technique in Beautiful Details whereby you stamp and then stamp again to get a second generation image.

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  I followed the rule of three while stamping my leaf clusters.

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  Using a darker shade of green also helps with adding dimension.

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  Finally I splattered Jet Black ink on the background.

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  My sentiment was cut from watercolor paper so that I could make it coordinate with my hydrangeas. To make it easier and less likely to tear leave it in the negative space.

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  To help it stand out a bit more I covered it with clear embossing powder.

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  Originally I was going to stack the sentiment but changed my mind because I wanted the focus to be on the flowers, instead it was inlayed. I also followed the 70/20/10 rule having purple as the primary color followed by green and black.

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  Extra detail was added to the hydrangeas with Polychromos pencils.

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  I cut one of the flowers to add dimension behind the main bloom.

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  Laying an acrylic block over sections that have been glued helps to aid with attachment.

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  I placed some patterned paper on the sides and black cardstock stripes top and bottom.

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  To complete my card iridescent gems have been added.

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Supplies used

• Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock 110lb and 80lb
• Canson Cold Press Watercolor Paper 140lb 300g
• Black cardstock
• MFT Black & White Stripes 6×6 paper pack
• Altenew Garden Hydrangea Stamp & Die set
• Altenew Leaf Clusters Stamp set
• Altenew Fancy Thanks Die
• Altenew Crisp Dye Inks – Forest Glades, Evergreen, Arctic, Wisteria, Hydrangea, Ultraviolet, Andromeda and Jet Black
• Polychromos pencils – 249, 173 and 199
• Altenew waterbrush
• Marvy Jewel Picker
• White holographic gems
• VersaMark Ink
• Hero Arts White embossing powder
• Clear embossing powder
• Lawn Fawn glue
• Mister Huey’s Shine Color Mist
• 3M foam tape
• Misti
• acrylic block

Some of the supplies that were used.

Looking forward to learning more and stretching my supplies.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fiona