Distress Crayons and Gesso

 Gesso and Distress crayons

To prepare this card, take your favorite stencil, I used a stencil I made with my Silhouette using a background cut file and some heavy craft paper, but any stencil would work well for this card and gesso.

Lay the card down with the stencil and apply gesso with a pallet knife to the stencil as if you were frosting a cake. Let it dry for at least 4 hours.

Then add 3-4 colors of distress crayons over the gessoed panel. With a baby wipe blend the colors together until you get the blending to where you would like, remember that gesso will act as a resist, so the more you rub on the gesso part, the less pigment will be left. The paper will keep the pigment rich, so you can really get some neat blending!

Then assemble the card with your embelishments and sentiments, easy peasy!

Desing Tip: To make some easy cards I like to stamp or print the sentiment on cardstock and then cut a strip of paper to work with the stencil graphic so the whole card will marry nicely together.

To find out other ways to use this technique below is a great YouTube Tutorial

To find out other great ideas on how to use water-soluble inks to use as watercolor check out 

How to learn more If you are like me and always love to learn more about watercolor cards there are two classes that I recommend you take:
Angela Fehr's Creative Watercolor class: This is a great class for anyone that wants to add watercolor to cards, art journaling, and Calligraphers.  This link will get you 20% off the class I am in the works of making a review for this class, I highly recommend this class, it is a great class! Here is the Class Review post

Watercolor Card's Made Simple on Craftsy. This is the perfect class for all paper crafters you can see my class review here

Happy Creating!





I use Affiliated links to help support my blog.

Living a better Creative life as a CreativeBug

Get your first month of Creativebug for just $1, then save 30% at Jo-Ann

Inspired by an Art Jornal class from CB

I really enjoy the summer with the kids home, I love the laughter that they bring to me in the afternoon when my living room is a mess with their new creation of a zoo, or a city, or a habitat for their pretend animals, or when our living room transforms into a vet clinic. It's a magical place to be if you are a kid!

Autograph Art Journal inspired by CB!

I love seeing all the fun things my kids can come up with, I love seeing them paint something and think that they are awesome! I am not feeling that these days I paint something and I think well, good thing that wasn't a masterpiece in the making, this will never see the light of day as long as I am alive.  So how do we become more creative? Besides the obvious reasons like the Just Do It phrase  CreativeBug may be a great answer, Right now CreativeBug is doing a monthly challenge to help you become more creative! ready to join me?


Day one Courtney said that it's not about what the drawing (art) is, it's about establishing a habit!

Paper Peony class from CreativeBug

What great advice! The activity was Blind Contour drawing which is super fun, I can't wait to do this with my kids!

Day two: Observing! She recommends doing a color swatch book, each day you have a color of the day that you love, and then you name that color, so like today I would Choose a teal green, and name it tall grass because on my morning walk we saw tall grass, it was beautiful! Courtney says to become more creative you should observe more (be in the present) and write down 6 things you saw today that jumped out at you, and 6 things you did, and something you overheard or read that jumped out at you. I am so excited to start this 6x3 observing challenge!

I can't wait to see what the other days will be like, I think August is one of the hardest months to be creative, personally, this is a great time to enjoy creativity, and let it flow like it should!

Paper Rose class from CreativeBug

Creativity is in all of us, the kids, the mother, the grandmother, the Lawyer, the Doctor, the accountant, we are all made to be creative! I am so glad that my amazing Husband found CreativeBug for me and bought CreativeBug for me as a "stocking Stuffer" I have really enjoyed this for the past 6 months!


Things you may not have known about CreativeBug that makes me happy:

It's subscription based (like Netflix) for less than $5 a month (totally worth your sanity!)


You get one class credit every month that is yours forever, just log in even if you don't have a subscription, or let your subscription expire! I have gotten all the Yao Cheng Classes for future reference!

All over floral pattern from
Yao Cheng Watercolor class

They donate %5 to Art Education! WOW!

The instructors sometimes will critique and comment on work, I personally have had Yao Cheng comment on one of my questions/concern I had when starting out with watercolor. It made me feel like I was able to connect with the instructor on a more personal level.

Geometric Pattern inspired by Yao Cheng watercolorist

LISA CONGDON is amazing! I love that she is on Creativebug!

I came to the conclusion that CreativBug is a great resource for family art activity time and kid art time!

Lots of great Ideas with the kids and art! We did Bubble painting and the kids loved it, Thanks, CreativeBug!

I would love to know what you are excited to learn with CreativeBug, leave a comment and Follow me on CreativeBug!

Get your first month of Creativebug for just $1, then save 30% at Jo-Ann

~I use affiliate links to support my blog~

Scribble a Summer Background Card!

Materials

Watercolor paper cut to 4.25x5.5

Repositionable adhesive

Craft matt

Scribble sticks (I LOVE THEM, shh.... better than any water soluble crayon aka distress crayons)

Spray bottle with water

Cup of water for watercolor

Tim Holtz flower stencil

Tim Holtz Grid Dot layering stencil

Clear or white embossing ink (I used VersaMark)

White embossing powder

Baby wipes

Mounting tape, or foam tape

A2 card base.

Medium round brush, I like a mop brush for this, but any medium round brush will work.

Start by adding just an inch of repositionable adhesive to the back of the watercolor paper, stick this to the craft mat This helps you not get extra finger prints on the card panel.

Add your pigment to the card, I used the green, blue and yellow and orange tones for a summer day feel. Scribble onto your panel in a horizontal fashion making sure you overlap the colors for a blending effect. Once you are happy with the colors, spray lightly over your paper and use your wet brush to move the colors to the way you like it.

Dry the panel with a heat tool, don’t get it too close, the scribble sticks don’t like the heat too close and it will bubble up. At this time if you need to take the paper off of the mat that is all right.

Once dry take the flower stencil and stencil the card with VersaMark ink or embossing ink, remove the stencil, and cover the inked surface with the white embossing powder. Heat set the white embossing powder.

Then with the square pattern stencil take a baby wipe and take away some of the pigment, don’t scrub too hard, gently go over parts of the stencil, I like to use my index finger with a light touch and go into the spots that I want the pigment to be removed. The point of this is to add texture, not to have the whole stencil showing.

Add your die cut, and mount the panel on an A2 card base.

How to learn more If you are like me and always love to learn more about watercolor cards there are two classes that I recommend you take:
Angela Fehr's Creative Watercolor class: This is a great class for anyone that wants to add watercolor to cards, art journaling, and Calligraphers.  This link will get you 20% off the class I am in the works of making a review for this class, I highly recommend this class, it is a great class! Here is the review for the class

Watercolor Card's Made Simple on Craftsy. This is the perfect class for all paper crafters you can see my class review here

Happy Creating!





I use Affiliated links to help support my blog.

Trending NOW: Stamped Floral Watercolor Card

After doing this card for World Watercolor month and For Memory Bounds Make and take, I had to buy like 5 more different brush stroke stamps from Penny Black! I am a Huge fan!

the card was used in Memory Bound July Make-n-Take

Materials:

Tim Holtz Worn Lipstick and Peeled Paint ink pads

Spray bottle with water

Container of water for watercolor

Penny Black Moment in Time stamp

MISTI

Watercolor paper cut to 4.25x5.5

Small round brush (I like sizes 4-6)

Medium-large round brush (I used a size 12)

Craft mat for ink

Mounting tape, or foam tape

A2 card base.

Start by adding some of the peeled paint to the craft mat, spritz it with water.

Get your paper and stamp situated on the MISTI, I chose the flower to be the right center.

With your medium to large brush make a gradient wash on the water color paper with the peeled paint ink Your work/paint surfaces on the craft mat, not on the MISTI

Once your gradient wash is looking sheen, (semi glossy, but not super wet) ink the stamp, start at the top and work your way down, I used Worn Lipstick for the flower and peeled paint for the steam.

Make sure that your gradient wash is dark value at the bottom so the pink stands out more at the top!

Stamp the flower onto the semi glossy sheen watercolor paper, (you want the ink to bleed) That is how you get the watercolor look. Troubleshooting: If the ink didn’t bleed like you wanted it too: ink the flower again but this time spritz the stamp with a bit of water. The paper was too dry by the time you stamped it.

Play with the stamped flower, at this time you can add some darker tones to the flower, I used a small round brush and painted with worn lipstick ink onto some of the pedals that I thought could use some extra value, (don’t go overboard with this, spend less than a minute on this. The more you play the more unnatural it will look) On the flip side doing this adds depth to the flower.

Dry the paper, you want it to be bone dry (as dry as it can be.) I use a heat tool for this to speed up the process.

Now it’s time to ink the flower again in the same way before, pink for the flower, green for the steam. This helps give you more details for the flower. This is also a great time to stamp a sentiment if needed.

Do the stamping 2 more times where ever you want the flowers to be.

If needed at a sentiment stamp or die cut to the card and you are done!

I am entering this card in to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge Blog and at this Blog post from the Card Concept, as a clean and graphic style. 

To find out other great ideas on how to use water-soluble inks to use as watercolor check out 

How to learn more If you are like me and always love to learn more about watercolor cards there are two classes that I recommend you take:
Angela Fehr's Creative Watercolor class: This is a great class for anyone that wants to add watercolor to cards, art journaling, and Calligraphers.  This link will get you 20% off the class I am in the works of making a review for this class, I highly recommend this class, it is a great class! Here is the Class Review post

Watercolor Card's Made Simple on Craftsy. This is the perfect class for all paper crafters you can see my class review here

Happy Creating!





I use Affiliated links to help support my blog.

Jump Start your Creativity with Watercolor Cards Class review

Washi tape and watercolor goes well together

The right kind of paint makes all the difference

NO Stamped Card! Die cut and washi tape

 
I love when artists share their unique style and paint the way that makes them happy. Angela Fehr has a style that makes me thank heaven that she was bold and courageous in creating in the way she does! It takes a lot of courage to paint in a style that is your own, Angela does this so effortlessly.

Angela's way of teaching is perfect for the hobbyist, and the seasoned crafter, the techniques are not "trendy"  but something you can take away using for trends, for example, she brings in Lindsey or better known as the Frugal Crafter. Lindsey shares her secrets to making some beautiful watercolor cards that can be used over and over again, techniques that can get you beautiful results, using watercolor as ink for stamping images, and use stencils and watercolor for card making.


If you are not a traditional stamper (like I use to be) washes, blooms and basic techniques are a great way to start. YOU DONT HAVE TO STAMP TO BE A CARD MAKER! There are beautiful results when you just watercolor. Watercolor cards that use just pigment and brushes can be beautiful by themselves, She shows you how.

I have fallen in love with stamping again, most of my examples are of stamped images, I haven't even touched the surface with what was taught  without a stamp... (I need some courage, stamps are my crutch and they are so darn cute!)

Angela brought in Artist/paper crafter Karin Akesdotter She shares how she uses watercolor to make cards using dies, and how to "finish" watercolor paintings into cards. I have always struggled to finish and polish my cards until they "shine." This segment from Karin was what I was searching for in a watercolor class! Thank you, Karin, for the amazing advice and for Angela for her foresight for her students!

Easy watercolor wash with Tim Holtz Flower Garden Stamp

Angela has a very comprehensive creative watercolor class, everything from resist, to free flowing water wash, which is one of her signature styles to her watercolors. Angela advocates that for every painting session she warms up with a freestyle wash to help her stay loose, I learned that no warm up is wasted when I can use my freestyle wash in a card, or as a die cut for an embellishment for a card, and then I have another way to use up all my warm ups, and sketches.

I loved that she showed you how to use Brushos Pigment Crystals, (I can't wait to try them, Angela, they look like a ton of fun!

You know that I am a huge advocate for creativity. I found this class full of inspiration. the nuggets of information that she shares are valuable beyond just card making, for any watercolorist this is a great class to have taken.



My dear sweet Husband and Mother in law bought me Angela Fehr's Watercolor University for my Birthday in
May, out of all her classes I could have taken, I was super excited for this watercolor card class. #PaperCrafterAtHeart.

Click on this link for a 20% off discount for this course

What are you born to do?"

Knowing what you are meant to do on this earth is key to your happiness.

It is in that quote by Mark Twain: "the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why" I wanted to share with you why I believe Mark Twain is right.

Motherhood is important, and about 2 years ago I know I was born to teach my family and those around me. I believe that I was also blessed with some artistic skills....

Here is part of my journey into the creating and art world:

 I thought that Art is for people that had nothing better to do, and as a young mom, I thought I had other important things to do, I watch a ton of tv... it was my block and a good excuse that I used to not create. I was so miserable. That misery started to seep into me and I became an angry wife and a controlling mother. I was a natural disaster waiting to happen, I was to my breaking point. How could I go on without art in my life?

Watercolor is so important to me. I woke up this morning feeling so blessed that I have made Art part of my life, and my family's life again. There was a time when I pushed art out of my life and I was miserable, COMPLETLY MISERABLE.

It was on that day about a year ago that I was walking Barbie (my adorable rat terrier) around a lake by where I live that I thought if the world was on my side if the universe was on my side I would be a painter, not just a painter, a watercolorist. So I spent the next year dedicating time to paint. It's always a thrill to put the first brush stroke on that really nice white paper. It gives me a peace in my heart that makes me feel like all is right in the world.

Playing with color is a great warm up for any artist,, make it fun!

When I decided to work with water based mediums. I haven't looked back. For every bad painting, and yes I have a whole cabinet that is full of paintings that will never see the light of day, I have learned. Those paintings that seem all right to share with others, I make into cards. and then the couple ones that I love have made it into frames. 

 I made this watercolor dream a reality with one early morning at a time, one brush stroke at a time, one trip to a local art store at a time. 

So how, how did I make this work with my family and my crazy life? Here are some tips that I have found worthwhile:

Anna Mason gave 5 great blocks we use to avoid making Art... I love them all so taking her council has helped me ten fold.

ALL ART IS A PROCESS! I can't shout this enough.WE needed to be gentle with ourselves, just because you are painting and haven't touched your love of creating art since you were young (for me it was watercolor and it was years since I picked up a watercolor pallet up.)

AND 

layering shapes always bring out my inner artist.

Don't' Compare to others: Every Artist that I love had to create in their own unique way, we are all made different we all have our unique style, we can't paint like anyone else except the way we paint. Even if you do a paint along with me type painting uses all the same brushes, and pigments, it's still going to come out different. 

So in the real world how, How do I fit "creating" into my busy life?

I have a routine and I stick to it, I make creating a priority, I do the best I can, and I let my kids have fun with me in the process. I wish there was an easy button, and the best easy button for a toddler is sometimes tv. Although I have a 2-hour tv limit.  

Creating art is always a trade off, I could give all my time to my kids and secretly die a bit inside because I need to create or let them play. Heaven knows we have enough toys for them to be occupied... I need my time, they need time to play by themselves, so that is when I create, those unstructured time. Sometimes I need a whole day or a whole afternoon. Nothing is more therapeutic than painting for fun and try to learn something in an afternoon while my kids are playing. Afterward, I usually have to spend a day cleaning... but totally worth the creating time. 

There is a trade-off to happiness in our house it looks like this:

Happy Creating!

If you are wanting to start watercolor this class that Angela has is a great one, it's helped me motivate me to try new subjects. Like trees, which I am super excited to share with you in a future blog post!

This class helped me realize that painting is a process that brings the painting to life!

By clicking and buying this class you are supporting my blog.

Painting with Distress Crayons

I got this cute oldie but goodie Thank you stamp from a friend that loves me enough to feed my stamping addiction Thank you JB and so I thought this is a perfect stamp to heat emboss in gold and to watercolor with...

I recently got some Tim Holtz Distress crayons and thought, this would be a perfect pair! So with a green and blue distress crayons and a brush (you could use a water brush), All I did was with a wet brush I used the crayon as if it were a pigment and added the pigment to my brush and brushed it onto the paper. I had an easy card panel done in minutes. You know me, I like to keep things simple and Elegant, so I kept the card clean and straight forward, added some dark green embossed paper and some decorative gold washi tape.

My design tip: USE WHAT YOU HAVE! I love that water-based media in its true nature is so fun to manipulate. Distress Crayons let you have those velvet like layers, I love that watercolor Crayons can give you darker layers that give you some depth to your watercolor washes, like in this card, using some 2nd and 3rd layers of pigment really made some of the flourishes really pop!

For watercolor on the go, this project is perfect, you could pre-stamp and heat embossed card panels, take them with you with your distress crayons (they are not messy and a perfect travel companion.)

How to learn more If you are like me and always love to learn more about watercolor cards there are two classes that I recommend you take:
Angela Fehr's Creative Watercolor class: This is a great class for anyone that wants to add watercolor to cards, art journaling, and Caligraphers.  This link will get you 20% off the class I am in the works of making a review for this class, But I highly recommend this class, it is a great class!

Watercolor Card's Made Simple on Craftsy. This is the perfect class for all paper crafters you can see my class review here

Happy Creating!





I use Affiliated links to help support my blog.

Watercoloring with Distress ink and MISTI

There is a new tool out that I LOVE it changed my view on stamping! I never loved to stamp, I am a messy person and ink would always get into places that I wouldn't like. I also love the watercolor look, the dreamy wet look, so when I found out there is this magical stamp guide that helps you get the perfect stamped image every time, I was elated!  The Misti has changed the way I view stamps.

This card was a keep it simple style, I wanted it to be all blue, and I wanted it to be minimal in the design to make the watercolor (ink) be the focal point of this card. So I positioned my stamp onto the misty and inked the jar in faded jeans distress ink, with a spray bottle with water I sprayed the stamp once or twice to get a watery feel. Then I used a water brush to move the water around and then when I liked how it looked I stopped, and let the whole card dry. If it looks like a mess you did it right!
Once the paper was dried I inked the jar stamp again with the same ink and stamped it, I didn't have to worry about the placement because I was using my MISTI.  Then I got the dreamy look from the first layered of stamping and a crisp line from the second layer stamp.

I did the same process on a separate piece of paper for the flowers, but I die cut out the flowers.
Then I adhered the flowers with some pop dots and the card was done. I think simple cards that have just a bit of depth is well worth making a bunch of them and you can with the Misti and the die cuts.

My Desing Tip: KEEP IT SIMPLE. not every card has to have a bunch of stuff on it to make it look elegant. I know that my style is that of being simple and elegant, Sometimes I wonder if I need some extra stuff for the card, this is what I do: I walk away from it, do a different project, help a kid, what every Sometimes perfection is in the walking away part, then when you come back to the card the next day with "fresh eyes" you are better able to know what is needed.

This post is going into the Power Poppy Hues to Use challenge! It's a fun one!

How to learn more If you are like me and always love to learn more about watercolor cards there are two classes that I recommend you take:
Angela Fehr's Creative Watercolor class: This is a great class for anyone that wants to add watercolor to cards, art journaling, and Caligraphers.  This link will get you 20% off the class I am in the works of making a review for this class, But I highly recommend this class, it is a great class!

Watercolor Card's Made Simple on Craftsy. This is the perfect class for all paper crafters you can see my class review here

Happy Creating!





I use Affiliated links to help support my blog.

  

Asking myself this ONE question changed EVERYTHING for me!

Happiness is something we deprive ourselves when we have Toxic Perfection.

It is my hope that with this post that I can help you understand what Toxic Perfection is and how we can let ourselves be happier.

What am I talking about? Toxic Perfection is when we have to have everything perfect, whatever we do has to be as clean or as perfect as possible, It's not good enough untill________.

My friends in almost all artform, we must let go, the painting is done before it's "done" The bookan author Writes simply ends, and goes onto the next thing, it's simply done. I love what Jackson Pollock says about his painting The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through.  

Julia Cameron in the Artist's way asks this simple question: What would I do if I didn't have to do it perfectly?
Answer: A great deal more than I am.

My answer to this great big elephant in the room question was: to paint, more specifically watercolor. But I will look completely ridiculous trying to paint, that is for real artists and I am a crafter I told myself.

The universe is usually on our side, not long after thinking that I would paint if I didn't have to do it perfectly, a friend mentioned that there are some watercolor classes online I will send you a coupon code for 1/2 off of your first class. I haven't looked back since that day. It's hard to actually go and do, our family art room was my classroom. I told myself to learn and grow. Part of producing art was to make lots of mistakes! So I did!

limited pallet I started with. 

You see when we decide that our perfectionism is a great excuse for not doing anything, we deprive ourselves of our personal growth. I have learned to understand that I need art in my life, almost as if it were air to my creative soul.

I was able to learn about artists and their lifestyle, interact with other students that love watercolor as much as I do. The excuse of I am not really good went away and I was left with: I am committed, now what? If I am skilled or not, it doesn't matter, what matters is Do I like what I am Creating?

Perfectionism has a way to make everything we make look "bad" that is not art, that is called being blocked. Perfectionism deprives us of the joy that comes from just practicing and playing around.

This month is World Watercolor month, and as I was looking at all the entries for Angela's Fehr watercolor challenge I have completely been blown away from all the talented beginners that never posted their work, some are just beautiful works of art. I wonder if we were all a bit more forgiving of our mistakes just how beautiful the world could be?  I want to leave you with this thought: Do not fear mistakes: There are none. ~Miles Davis

This week if you are wanting to try and watercolor Angela has a great challenge for us!
This week's challenge: Summer scenes. What view says "summer" to you? What is your view in the summer?

How to enter: Post your painting inspired by the challenge here: One entry per user per challenge prompt. This is to encourage you to paint at your own pace, whether fast or slow.

This is a perfect week to try a landscape! If you are timid about trying a landscape like I am (not my strongest skill in watercolor) check out Composing Landscape class, you will be glad you did! Angela's teaching style is so encouraging, and her knowledge of watercolor gives me the motivation to paint every day! Clicking on this link lets you get 20% off the class!  

Rural Iowa skyscape 

Last week was a fun challenge, it was on skies and I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on painting skies thanks to Angela's classes. 

By clicking on  the links, and purchasing a class you are supporting my blog

FUN SUMMER CARD to make in 20 minutes or less!

This is the perfect summer card to send to someone you love! I love how bright and vibrant the card is! The secret to blending is using the right medium, I used Scribble Sticks to make this card, because I knew I wanted to get some vibrant pigment but also remove some of the pigment with a stencil, because of that I was able to get the effect that I wanted here is what I did!

Materials

Watercolor paper cut to 4.25x5.5

Repositionable adhesive

Craft matt

Scribble Sticks

Cup of water for watercolor

Tim Holtz flower stencil

Tim Holtz Grid Dot layering stencil

Clear or white embossing ink (I used VersaMark)

White embossing powder

Baby wipes

Small sentiment Die of your choosing

A2 card base.

Medium round brush, I like a mop brush for this, but any medium flat brush will work.

Start by adding just an inch of repositionable adhesive to the back of the watercolor paper, stick this to the craft mat This helps you not get extra fingerprints on the card panel.

Add your pigment to the card coloring the whole panel, I used the green, blue and yellow and orange tones for a summer day feel. Scribble onto your panel in a horizontal fashion making sure you overlap the colors for a blending effect. Once you are happy with the colors, use your wet brush to move the colors to the way you like it.

Dry the panel with a heat tool, don’t get it too close, the scribble sticks don’t like the heat too close and it will bubble up. At this time if you need to take the paper off of the mat that is all right.

Once dry take the flower stencil and stencil the card with VersaMark ink or embossing ink, remove the stencil, and cover the inked surface with the white embossing powder. Heat set the white embossing powder.

Then with the square pattern stencil take a baby wipe and take away some of the pigment, don’t scrub too hard, gently go over parts of the stencil, I like to use my index finger with a light touch and go into the spots that I want the pigment to be removed. The point of this is to add texture, not to have the whole stencil showing.

Add your die cut, and mount the panel on an A2 card base.

To learn more here are two classes that I love and refer back to often!

Creative Watercolor with Angela Fehr This link has a exclusive 20% off coupon attached to it!!!
Craftsy's watercolor cards made simple