Happy Thoughts with Watercolor Swiping and Embossing.

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back. If you’re new to my blog, thank you so much for stopping by and spending some time with me. If you’re an “used to be regular visitor until I stopped blogging a couple of years ago” thank you for returning. I am slowly getting back into the crafting groove and blogging. It’s important to me to blog for my own pleasure and the satisfaction I get from sharing my creations. This was something I struggled greatly with when I blogged previously. I have learned many lessons about myself and what is important in my self care process and fulfillment. Lessons, I am endeavoring to put into practice.
Ok, now onto the cards for today. While I didn’t blog or craft a whole lot over the last couple of years, I did do a little; and I did keep up with a few of my favorite industry crafters, including Kristina Werner, and Jennifer McGuire. The cards I’m sharing today were inspired by this “watercolor swiping technique” I saw on Jennifer’s blog. I found this very simple technique to be so effective and eye-catching. I struggled initially because I didn’t have a small acrylic block to use to swipe the colors (I have since acquired something I think will work much better the next time I do this, however.😉) Nevertheless I persevered and found something to work. I made a variety of backgrounds with this technique and I’ll share a few more in later posts as well.
Now, since I haven’t done a lot of crafting lately, I also haven’t purchased a lot of new items. So, you’re going to have to just put up with me using some oldies but goodies when it comes to stamp sets and accessories etc.
 😊 Also, a quick note about products. Because I am not a blog with a lot of visitors (and I’m ok with that) I am not providing link backs to the products and where you can purchase them...that’s a lot of enon if you want to buy the items, you’re going to have to go google it and find them. 

Ok, back to the original broadcast information...I wanted to keep both of the cards fairly simple. So, I chose white bases for both of them. I also used these watercolors that I bought from Michael’s on both of the cards as well.

For the first card, I used an old Hero Arts stamp set called “Live Life” and heat embossed in white right on to the watercolor background. I popped this up on a small piece of black cardstock, added some faux white stitching and some sequins as a final touch.

   

Here is a close up of the center panel

For the second card, I used one of my favorite Simon Says Stamp sets  “You Matter” I just think this is such a versatile set. I used the “You” diecut and cut out about 5 pieces from black card stock and stacked them together and then glued them. This is a great way to give a “chipboard” dimension to your diecuts. When I laid the piece onto the water colored piece, I realized that it all just blended together; I needed a way to let it “pop.” So, I cut another “You” this time from white card stock and put it under the black to create a kind of shadow for the word. I embossed the other parts of the sentiment with white embossing powder again. I added some small black dashed lines and again added some small sequins.

Phew....lots of information in this blog post, at least I feel like I’ve been typing for a long time! If you’re still here, thank you for hanging in there with me. If you just scrolled quickly and looked at the pictures, that’s ok too! I hope you like what you saw and I hope my little creations inspire you to create something of your own.

Have a great day, everyone and I’ll be back again soon!

Saturday Challenges:
1. A Gem of a Challenge: Anything Goes
2. A Place to Start: Anything Goes
3. Crafter’s Castle: Anything Goes

Sunday Challenges:
4. A Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: Anything GoesS
5. The Corrosive Challenge:  Anything Goes