teacups of flowers...

September 04, 2010

teacups of flowers...

Hello everyone!

Today I have a simple card I made for my Mom's b-day....

I love this stamp by Great Impressions... My friend gave it to me, and I love it!

Paper: Coredinations, My Mind's Eye, watercolor paper

Ink: Distress ink, VersaMark,

Stamps: Great Impressions

CI paint: Fairy Dust

Other: embossing powder, rhinestones

I stamped the teacups with VersaMark, then embossed with black embossing powder. This just makes watercoloring easier as it gives a slight ridge to keep the ink where you want it.

I then used Tim Holtz Distress inks to watercolor.

You can't see it in this picture, but I also added a tiny bit of Fairy Dust CI paint on just the ruffle of the placemat... it makes it look like a sheer ribbon. =)

This is what one of my tables looks like when I'm watercoloring with Distress ink....

I'm not too good at planning ahead with what colors I will use, so I like to have them all out and easily accessible. The tins that I store these ink pads in came from my Grandpa. I'm not sure what came in them, but it was some kind of art supply. He saved them for me because he figured I would find some way to use them... =)

I guess I should have taken a picture of the lids as well... Each lid is colored with alcohol inks that match the colors of ink inside them, then stamped with various images with Archival ink. On the inside of each lid, I have a color chart with samples of each color of ink in that tin. This is a quick and easy reference to know what the inks look like when they are dry. These tins stack wonderfully, and when they are open, the ink pads are all easily accessible. I also glued in a piece of felt down the middle of each tin. I have 1 inch squares of Cut&Dry foam (by Ranger) for each color. *you can just have one per color family, but I am way too OCD for that. =)* On the back of each square, I have glued the scratchy side of velcro, so they stick to the felt. This keeps all inks and blenders together and organized.

To use these inks as watercolors, I tap the Distress ink pads in the colors I want onto an acrylic block. I like to have at least 2 shades of most colors for shading purposes, but that is a personal preference.

I then use a water brush (the kind that has water in the handle) to pick up a little ink and paint. I start with the lightest color, and move to the darker colors.