sennelier

VIDEO: Bright Watercolored Highlights with New Pinkfresh Studio!

February 18, 2023

Hi there! I have a new video over on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel with some tips on how to keep your highlights nice and white on your light colored watercoloring by using “reverse psychology” for your watercoloring! Here’s the video:

Or you can watch the video on YouTube HERE.

In case you can’t watch the video, here’s a quick rundown of how I created this project:

I started with a panel of cold press watercolor paper which I had hot foiled using my newest illustration for Pinkfresh Studio: Wonderful in Every Way. (I am so excited to see this design offered in a stamp set with coordinating stencils and die as well as a hot foil plate!) I used some satin metallic charcoal foil to create this soft silver design on this watercolor paper; the thickness of the watercolor paper creates the look of letterpress!

When I was brainstorming my project, I wanted to create a watercolored card with very pale blooms. Now, I tend to have a bit of a heavy hand when it comes to watercoloring; I love vibrant color, but I so admire the beautifully soft watercoloring that others are so capable of creating. The easiest way that I can achieve soft watercolored flowers is to do “reverse psychology” on myself by watercoloring around the pale image first with a bright contrasting color, then adding very pale watercolor to the image I want to keep pale and pastel. The contrast of the bright color around the image allows me to better visualize the lightness I’m seeking. I add diluted color to the areas that I want to be the most shadowed, pulling out the color with lots of clean water and allowing the whiteness of the watercolor paper to shine through. That extra water is key; it helps to allow the pigment to taper off into nothing, leaving those white highlights.

Once I had finished watercoloring, I trimmed my watercolor panel down to 3.5″x5.5″ in order to create an A7 card (just wanted to switch things up a bit!). I matted it with a coordinating deep green cardstock for extra contrast, then trimmed an A7 card front from some coordinating pale lavender cardstock. I added some interest to the lavender background by die cutting an Outline Floral Frame from some glittery white cardstock and selectively trimming to create a lacy border around the corners. I popped up the watercolored matted panel with some foam adhesive.

For the greeting, I used the Fancy Script Words Hot Foil Plate with the Fancy Script Words Die and some shiny Pewter foil to create this intricate, fairly large sentiment die cut. I also die cut a vellum diamond using the Nested Diamonds dies. I adhered the greeting to the vellum diamond with some foam tape, then flipped it over and added some tiny dots of adhesive to the back of the solid die cut to help hide it. I adhered the vellum diamond to the watercolored panel, slightly offsetting it and trimming off the excess. Finally, I added some Leaf Glitter Drops for a bit of added sparkle and texture.

Well, that’s all for my project today! If creating a light, airy watercolored flower intimidates you, I encourage you to try my “reverse psychology” method to keep that contrast of colors in perspective. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

New Anita Jeram from Colorado Craft Company!

May 15, 2021

Hi there! Colorado Craft Company has some absolutely darling new sets illustrated by the talented Anita Jeram that are releasing today, and I’m so happy to be helping them celebrate! There are lots of fabulous designers helping to inspire you with these new goodies, and you can find the entire list over on the Colorado Craft Company Blog. I’m not normally very good at creating scenes with critters. Something in my imagination hits a bit of a creative wall when it comes to scene building, ha! Luckily, the new Home Sweet Home stamp set has an absolutely darling little scene already built for you, so that you can just stamp and color with your choice of medium! I have a cool blue project for you today, so let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping the sweet scene from Home Sweet Home on some Arches cold press watercolor paper using no-line coloring ink. I then used my Sennelier watercolors to add lots of cool blues, grays, and purples to the scene, keeping the overall feel nice and loose to help maintain that sweet, storybook feel that Anita Jeram’s illustrations have. (PS-I love that there are coordinating dies for the individual elements of the scene! You could easily add lots more dimension to the card with the addition of some die cut elements. So much fun!)

I maintained a cool cornflower blue and gray color scheme throughout the card, thinking in my mind’s eye of an English summer cottage surrounded by a lovely garden full of beautiful flora and graceful fauna. When doing a larger scale no-line coloring piece like this, I like to do a large wash on the biggest section (in this case, the walls), then allow it to dry completely so that I can add the details without worrying about the paint running or blooming into each other. The Sennelier watercolors are very pigmented, and maintaining a light and airy feel requires lots of water so as not to add too much pigment to the card front.

Once I had completed my painting, I trimmed the panel down (the large size of the Home Sweet Home stamp means that it covers almost an entire A2 card front) and mounted it on a panel of Lapis cardstock from Hero Arts. I white embossed the greeting from Home Sweet Home (how apropos for these crazy covid times) and popped it up on the card front using foam adhesive.

Well, that’s all for this project! I hope you’ll check out the new Anita Jeram release, as well as the blog hop happening now! Your next stop is Amy Tsuruta. We also have some fun giveaway information for you:

Each designer will be giving away a $25 shopping code to one lucky commenter on their blog. All you need to do is visit each designer’s blog or IG page and leave a comment saying which of the new release is your favorite. You have 23 chances to win by leaving your comment. Giveaway ends on May 19th, 2021. Winners will be announced by each designer on May 20th, 2021.

Please be sure to subscribe to my blog (just enter your email address on the top left hand side of my blog) so that you receive email notification when I announce the winner. If you don’t contact me, I won’t be able to get your prize to you!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Mental Health Awareness Instagram Hop

May 8, 2021

Hi there! Today, I am taking part in an Instagram hop to help increase awareness of mental health and normalize mental health issues. So many of us struggle with depression, anxiety, and a whole host of other potential issues, but to talk about them can be quite problematic. I myself have been lucky to only experience mild anxiety, especially during this past year, but some of the people closest to me deal with severe depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, manic depression, and other difficulties on a day to day basis. Letting my dear ones know that they are not alone, that they are loved, that I hear them and see them, and that they are important are some ways that I can support them through dark days.

Hello and welcome to our Mental Health Awareness Hop, where we strive toincrease awareness and decrease the stigma associated with mental illness.We will share our mental health journey, facts and resources on mental illness, and beautiful, inspirational cards! We hope that together, we can end the stigma and talk freely about mental health. After all, 1 in 5 individuals have a mental health condition, so chances are you know someone who is struggling with it. We invite you to share your mental health journey using the hashtag #NotAlone so that we can all support and encourage you! So many sponsors have generously contributed a gift for the winners of this hop!

For my project, I chose to do some no-line watercoloring with one of my new sets from Pinkfresh Studio: It’s A New Day. When the outside world is troubling me (or when my kiddos are overwhelming my senses by being rambunctious kids), I can always turn to watercolor to try to bring some peace to my brain and calm the constantly turning mental and emotional wheels. I stamped the butterfly ranunculus images from It’s A New Day using no-line coloring ink onto some Arches cold press watercolor paper. I then used my Sennelier watercolor palette to add some shades of coral, pink, and red to the images, as well as some details using handmade metallic watercolors from Etsy. Once I’d finished watercoloring, I used the coordinating die to die cut the images.

For the greeting, I white embossed the one-piece, multi-greeting stamp from Pinkfresh Studios called Celebrating You. I thought this sentiment was perfect to remind those close to me who might be in a dark place that they are beloved by me, by many. I die cut it with the coordinating die (conveniently leaving several leftover sentiments to be used on future projects). I also die cut a frame using the Essentials: Pretty Frames 2 die from some more of the same deep coral-pink cardstock that I used for the greeting.

I also stamped a subtle, tone-on-tone background using the Floral Focus stamp set (designed to work cohesively with the It’s A New Day stamps), again on the deep coral-pink cardstock. I adhered all of the die cuts to the card front using lots of foam adhesive, adding some iridescent gems for sparkle.

There are lots and lots of prizes generously donated to the Instagram hop, so please be sure to look at the information in my Instagram post. Leaving a comment here on my blog will NOT enter you in the giveaways! (I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I just don’t want anybody to be left out of the giveaways if they are trying to enter them!)

I’m proud to take part in this hop, and I’m so honored that I was asked to do so. I think that we can all stand to be a little kinder and more understanding of each other, and caring about our fellow humans’ mental health is a great way to start. Everyone has their own struggles to deal with, and we should all care for each other and try to lift each other up. If you are struggling, I am sending you the biggest hugs. Thank you so much for reading this far, and have a marvelous day.

Tonic Studios Happy Hibiscus Blog Hop+Giveaway!

November 20, 2020

Hi there! Today, I’m excited to be a part of the Tonic Studios Happy Hibiscus blog hop! You should have arrived here from Daniel West’s blog, and your next stop is Jen Kay. Each month, Tonic releases a super fun kit for cardmakers, and this month has a beautiful tropical theme, called Happy Hibiscus, with lots of fun die elements, both for use specifically with the kit as well as some great basics that can be used with many other designs! Here’s a peek at the products in the kit:

Some details about the release: This stamp concept is a 3-fer. The large stamp can be used as a background stamp or cut apart to create a floral frame and bouquet resulting in three uses for one stamp. The dies includes two word dies with halo backing, as well as 7 Stitched rectangles and squares both cut out shapes and also cut a stitched frame into your cardstock (On both the negative and positive pieces). Tonic dies cut well and come precut/separated with no burs! Stamps & dies come in high quality plastic envelopes with a tab for labeling and binder holes on the side (which fit perfectly inside this A5 binder!). These products are exclusive to Tonic, and are limited in quantity… once they’re gone, they’re gone!

For my project today, I created a tropical sunset shaker using the edge of the gorgeous stamp. I started by stamping the background stamp on some watercolor paper and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder. I used my Daniel Smith watercolors to add lots of vibrant color to the floral design around the edge, then used the interior die to create the frame.

I used a pretty combination of lilac, coral, and apricot inks to blend a soft tropical sunset background using some blender brushes. These three colors worked perfectly with the colors of the tropical flowers on the border! I added an acetate sheet to the back of the frame, then added lots of foam tape around the edges.

I filled the shaker with lots of pretty coordinating colors of sequins and adhered the shaker frame to the blended background panel. For the greeting, I die cut the Happy Birthday included in the Happy Hibiscus set from some Tonic Silver Screen Glitter Cardstock.

To celebrate this release, Tonic is sponsoring a giveaway! One lucky winner will win a £50/$50 Giftcard to Tonic Studios and the Happy Hibiscus bundle. To enter comment on every blog in the hop by 11:59pm PST on November 25th. Winner will be announced on November 27th on IG and FB so make sure you’re following all Tonic accounts!

BLOG HOP LIST:

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Watercolored Thank You with Gina K!

June 22, 2020

Hi there! I’ve been slowly getting back into my craft room for short periods when my little guys cooperate and sleep at the same time. (With four kids in the house, I’ve never valued silence more haha!) Sitting and nursing my boys means I have lots of time to shop online (sigh.), so I’ve been buying allllll of the things, including this beautiful Majestic Peony stamp from Gina K.! I also purchased some Sennelier L’Aquarelle watercolors, and couldn’t wait to put the two together. I made a simple card combining the two, so I thought I’d share it here!

I began by stamping the absolutely stunning peony image from Majestic Peony onto some Altenew watercolor paper using Hero Arts’ Intens-ified Black ink. (This is my favorite ink to use with watercolors!) I then taped the stamped A2 panel to my watercolor board and used the Sennelier L’Aquarelle watercolors to watercolor the image in a pretty shade of peachy-pink.

I also added a halo of pretty turquoise around the edge of the card base, keeping the area around the floral spray itself very pale to create a halo effect!

After the paint had dried completely (I allow it to dry completely while still taped to the board to minimize warping), I stamped the simple “thank you” greeting from Majestic Peony, again using Intens-ified Black ink. I trimmed the edges of the watercolored panel slightly, then matted it on a black A2 card front to help intensify the black lines even further.

I love projects like this… Simple and super easy to mail, where the beautiful image is allowed to just shine with some pretty watercoloring! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!