Experimental Watercolor Green Card

In preparation for participating in an ATC (Artist Trading Card) Swap, I wanted to experiment today with watercolor backgrounds. So, I grabbed a Melissa Francis watercolor paper (very lightweight but absorbs color well). I pulled out my oxides and distress inks and craft mat. I wanted to match a Graphic 45 paper that I want to use as the background. So I stamped colors onto the mat, spritzed them and started painting. I found a Bo Bunny leaf stencil and pulled out my small Library Green archival ink and started stamping through the stencil to build a leaf type background. Then I grabbed a wet wipe and started lifting color through the stencil. I liked that combo look a lot - light and dark leaves. I dried that and then pulled out a Unity freebie honeycomb stamp and the houndstooth texture stamp from the new Unity kit I was using today, YOU Deserve. I added more texture and then called it good.

Then it was time to turn to flowers. Now this card will be entered into the Green Color challenge so I decided I would color the flowers green and add some green toned down shamrocks from the February 2018 KOTM. I grabbed another Melissa Francis paper and stamped several images on it and I also stamped the images on the painted paper. I colored the shamrocks with a bland green. The flowers, however, were colored with my brand new Brea Reese glitter inks (I mixed yellow and blue drops to get the light green color I wanted). After I completed painting, I fussy cut everything out and adhered to my paper sometimes raised with foam strips. Because the background is so dark, I decided to create an art journal look by outlining the flowers and leaves. I also stamped out the sentiment from this kit and a sentiment from the So Very Grateful kit, fussy cut those, distressed the edges and treated them the same as the flowers.

I pulled the card together, framed the watercolor paper with white cardstock , added a dusky gold paper behind the watercolor paper and added sequins. I really had fun playing with my new inks and creating an interesting background paper using a stencil and texture stamps. This card certainly won’t win any prizes but I like the essential look and look forward to repeating some of the techniques. Thanks for visiting and have a great day!