Fun With Watercolor Paints: The Cards

Something I am guilty of, and I bet others are too, is I expect near-perfect results as soon as I try something new. I think we need to give ourselves permission to climb the learning curve. I would guess that [insert your favorite musician] did not become a master [of their instrument] without hours of practice, so we need to give ourselves permission to practice to learn something new.

Trying to climb the learning curve is what I did over the Labor Day Weekend. As I posted yesterday, I spent some of my time using my watercolor paints, even without a specific project in mind, to get a feel for how to use the watercolor paints.

I did not share the "before assembled into a card" of this green watercolor panel. It is the back of the watercolor paper I got from my mom. As you can see, it is especially noticeable near the top of the card that the paper reacted differently to the watercolor paint and water, some watercolor paper definitely has a right side and a wrong side (FYI, I have not found this with the CTMH Watercolor Paper; the results have been similar no matter which side of the paper you use - pictures coming tomorrow). I also found that this watercolor paper was a bit heavy and hard to get all of the curl out of it. This is noticeable on the bottom edge.

As I showed you yesterday, this watercolor panel was dusted with an anti-static bag, then stamped with Ranger™ Archival Ink - Jet Black followed by VersaMark™ Ink Pad, then Ranger™ White Super Fine Embossing Powder was applied then heated, all before watercoloring. I thought the colors went well with the new CTMH Kaleidoscope Paper (X7202B). Since I was happy with the watercoloring on this and some of my other trials, I kept the card simple, but once I have an occasion to send the cards, I may change my mind.

The stamping and watercolor on this Hello Friend card was completed as on the purple/Kaleidoscope Hello Sunshine card above.

"Oh, hey" was stamped using Ranger™ Archival Ink - Jet Black before watercoloring.

This reddish Hello Sunshine card, I dusted with an anti-static bag and used White Daisy Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad and Ranger™ Clear Super Fine Embossing Powder before watercoloring. Please ignore the brownish streak under the "N". The wind came up and knocked the card and it rubbed up against a plant, probably tomato, on the way down. I was able to (mostly) disguise the problem by using a white rubber eraser and a little more paint on the card front. I thought the color went nicely with the new CTMH Sangria Paper (X7199B). I had this scrap of ribbon so I put it on this card.

On this card I watercolored the paper and after it dried I dusted with an anti-static bag and used VersaMark™ Ink Pad and Ranger™ White Super Fine Embossing Powder. Again I used the new CTMH Sangria Paper (X7199B). I used satin ribbon to embellish the card.

I have not created cards using the pink/blue/purple strip of watercolor paper that I shared yesterday. I hope to create something with that soon.

Stop back tomorrow for some swatches using CTMH Watercolor Paper (Update - I did not get a chance to prepare a post; please stop by in a few days).

Products used to create these cards:

• My Acrylix™ National Stamping Month Hello, Life!—Scrapbooking Stamp Set (CC1040)
• My Acrylix™ National Stamping Month Hello, Life!—Cardmaking Stamp Set (CC1041)
• Zoe Scrapbooking Workshop On The Go Stamp Set (D1674)
• Zoe Paper Pack (X7197B)
• Kaleidoscope Paper Pack (X7202B)
• Sangria Paper Pack (X7199B)
• White Daisy Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad (Z2163)
• VersaMark™ Ink Pad (Z891)
• Ranger™ Clear Super Fine Embossing Powder (Z2088)
• Ranger™ White Super Fine Embossing Powder (Z2068)
• Watercolor Paints (Z3132)
• Paintbrush Set (Z3188)
• 3L® E-Z Dots® Adhesive (Z3022)
• Memory Book Glue Dots™ (1772)
• Supplies not from Close To My Heart: Ranger™ Archival Ink - Jet Black, anti-static bag (brand unknown), watercolor paper (brand unknown), sheer ribbon (unknown), satin ribbon (Studio His & Hers Wedding Ribbon from Hobby Lobby), Xyron Creative Station (to get full coverage on the watercolor paper)

I hope you find a card that you like in this stack. If you have a moment, I would love to know what you think of the watercolor on these cards. Thank you for stopping by today.