A Birthday Hello

This was one of those watercolor stampings that I came very close to, and almost pulled it off the board and threw it out.  It started out pretty, then took a turn I did not like.  I remember watching a video (can't remember who it was) where the artist was really not liking what was happening on her card panel, but decided to stick with it anyways, and in the end it turned out gorgeous and she was glad she had powered through.  

Well, that encouraged me to go ahead and finish mine, anyways, in spite of not liking where mine was going.  Can't say I am in love with it, but it turned out ok, and certainly much better than what I had originally thought.  Here's what I did....

I taped watercolor paper onto an acrylic cutting board I purchased just for watercoloring.  I like the art boards, but thought I would be resourceful and see what I could use instead of going to an art store or online.  I found a white acrylic cutting board 11 x 13 1/2 inches. It

is big enough for any projects I will be doing, and I love that it has a handle.  And, it is white, so I could rub my inks directly on it to use for water coloring.  I taped the card to the board using frog tape.

watercolor paper taped to my board

frog tape - someone once asked me what it was.  It is a low tack tape used for painting

I tape the watercolor paper down to keep it from warping when I use a lot of water.  I sprayed water on the card, and used a paint brush to add more water, making the card quite wet.  I had my palette on the side with ink (I smooshed TH inks onto my palette).  I used my brush to pick up colors and drop them onto the prepared paper.  The colors blended beautifully, and created a beautiful background.  I wanted the background to be faint, so I used a paper towel to pick up much of the paint.  This resulted in a very soft base for my stamping.

I used a Stampin Up set (Watercolor Garden) and another stamp set.  I do not know who makes the other set, as I only had the rubber without the wood.  The only information on the bag was SM1275 Warmest Wishes.  If anyone knows who this is, please let me know.

I used Tim Holtz distress inks in dusty concord, seedless preserves, wilted violet, milled lavender, twisted citron, lucky clover, blueprint sketch, faded jeans, frayed burlap, and scattered straw.  As I inked and stamped the flowers, I did not like, at all, what was happening.  The colors were too dark and did not look good on the soft background.  But, I kept inking and stamping anyways.  I used a paint brush to soften the petals and leaves, and change the images a little.  Then, I took a paper towel and blotted the entire card, and Viola!  That was the look I was going for, much softer.  It was salvageable, and I was glad I had not acted on my first impulse!

When the panel was dry (I hurried the process with my heat tool), I carefully peeled off the frog tape, which reveals a border the color of the watercolor paper.  I love the look of the painted area contained within that border.

The die and coordinating birthday verse is from W Plus 9.  I cut the die three times from eggplant card stock, and layered them on top of each other to give it dimension.

Now, it's time for dinner, and then perhaps some Zentangle.  I have to go to the dentist tomorrow for a crown, and am definitely not looking forward to that.  Gotta do something to keep my mind occupied.

This card is for The Daily Marker day 22 of the 30 day color challenge , and also for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Inspired by a song.  I chose Wildflower by The JaneDear Girls.

May you find joy this week.

Blessings,

lynda