Funky Fossil Designs - Watercolour Experiment

 Hi everyone!! I'm slowly getting back into card making. Work has been very busy with it being Summertime here in New Zealand (lots of weeds.....) and homelife has been rather hectic, so I still struggle to fit in some crafting time before I go to bed. I had decided to make this year different and make sure my hobby features higher up on the 'To Do' list but I'm still guilty of putting myself last. One day I'll get it right....

One thing I want to do more of this year is try out some of the MILLIONS of techniques and ideas I see on other blogs, YouTube videos and Pinterest. There are so many talented people out there and I know I won't be as good as them but gives me a little bit of a thrill being like them for a few minutes.

I follow a lot of watercolour painters on YouTube and Instagram and see a lot of them using tape to mask off areas and watercolour. I decided to give it a go and even though it didn't go to plan, I'm still so glad I tried it:

I never use pen on my cards but found the rectangles needed some sort of definition. This was WAY out of my comfort zone....

I started by using washi tape to mask off three rectangles on a piece of Strathmore watercolour cardstock. I usually use the back, smoother side of watercolour CS but have come to appreciate the texture after visiting an artists house recently. She is the neighbour of someone I garden for and she invited me to see her garden. I saw the vase of brushes on her table and she took me inside to see her painting room. It was unbelievable and I could see how the bumpy paper added so much texture to her beautiful paintings.

I used Distress Inks 'Dusty Concord', 'Seedless Preserves', 'Victorian Velvet', 'Squeezed Lemonade' and 'Mustard Seed' to create a night sky. I've never used this combo before and was quite amazed how the pink and yellow blended together. I did quite a few layers, using my heat gun to dry in between, to get the look I was after.

Once it was dry I removed the washi tape. Unfortunately I had a bit of bleeding under the tape but it was ok. Using Versafine Onyx ink and Funky Fossil Design 'Winter Wonderland' stamp set, I stamped the images a few times with my MISTI to get good ink coverage. I then decided that I wanted to flick over some white paint, so I put the washi tape back on and created some basic masking with post-it notes to cover the images. I mixed water with Gansai Tambi white paint and flicked away......all over my computer.......

When the paint was dry I used a Uniball 3mm black pen and ruler to go around each rectangle. I then popped up the white heat embossed sentiment (from Funky Fossil Design 'Small Print') on foam tape and glued on some Studio Katia silver pearls after adhering the panel to a card front. Definitely going to try this again!!!

Off to hang out the washing. It rained all night last night which was a godsend as it hasn't rained for months. So no gardening for me today, going to prepare for a New Release coming up soon for Funky Fossil Designs and watch Netflix, probably movies I've seen before. With all the new content why do we go back to ones we've already seen???

Take care

Shona