Simon Says Stamp Be Creative Release-February 2023!

Hi there! Simon Says Stamp released some super cute new stamps and dies today for their Be Creative release, and I have a sweet watercolored mermaid shaker card using the new Vitamin Sea stamp set! I dug out my Tombow Dual Brush markers to create this super colorful watercolored underwater scene. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping lots of the images from Vitamin Sea onto some Arches Hot Press watercolor paper using Altenew’s Obsidian Black pigment ink, then clear embossing over the top. You could just stamp with your favorite waterproof black ink, but I prefer the crispness and intensity of the clear embossing over the top of the black lines. It helps keep them super defined!

I used my Tombow Dual Brush markers to add lots of vibrant color to the images. I couldn’t resist making an Ariel with her fiery red hair! When working with watercolor markers, I tend to use a combination of techniques to get the color to the paper, sometimes scribbling the color out onto my work surface, then picking it up with a damp paintbrush, which creates a more diluted and pastel version, and sometimes putting the marker directly to the paper itself, creating much more intense and vibrant colors. For the watery background, I scribbled the blue, aqua, and purple markers onto my glass mat, then picked each of them up with my wet paintbrush and dropped them onto the background to create a mottled, watery backdrop for my underwater scene. For the images themselves, I used both techniques, sometimes mixing colors on my glass mat to create custom colors, sometimes putting the markers directly to the paper to create super vibrant watercoloring that was true to the marker color.

Once I had finished adding lots of color to my scene, I went back in with a clean, wet paintbrush to lift some of the color from the background. I created small circles with my wet paintbrush, dried it off, then used the “thirsty brush” technique to pull the color off, effectively bleaching the area of color. To add some iridescent shimmer to the bubbles, I tapped some Interference Green Perfect Pearls onto my glass mat and added water to create super sparkly, iridescent “paint,” which I added to the bleached bubbles. It’s hard to capture the shimmer in the photos, but it’s so pretty! Once I had finished watercoloring, I added a greeting to the watercolored panel with some more black pigment ink and clear embossing powder.

To make this as festive a birthday card as possible, I wanted to create a shaker! I used my trimmer to cut a frame from some shiny, almost holographic white cardstock, which I backed with a piece of scrap stamp packaging. (Love getting extra use out of something that would just go in the trash!) I filled the shaker with some Spring Showers sequins, which look like more bubbles to me!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I have a couple more projects to share with you using the new goodies from this release, which I will share later this week. In the meantime, you can check out the new Be Creative release HERE. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!