Watercolored Peace & Joy Card

 Due to the overwhelming response to my first quick watercolored card and requests for how to, I created a second very quick card. Didn’t turn out quite as good as first… but I like the colors! The hardest part on the first card was creating a frame that would jazz up the card to make it Christmas card worthy! The hardest part on the second card was remembering how to video and then relearning how to splice the film into a watchable video. I give myself a B on the card, A- on the frame, a C on the video (obviously need to center the video correctly), and B+ on the video itself. (I’m an easy grader 😏😉).

I do apologize for the video imperfections… I quickly had set the camera up and thought I had it aligned. But hopefully you can see the steps. I also want to apologize for a little hand shaking… think I have a slight case of essential tremors.

Here’s my first card:

I created the frame by painting paper using the colors in the painting and then add paint spatters and some copper Nuvo flakes. I used a Stamperia sentiment on the bottom.

Here’s my second card:

This time I used cheap Holographic silver paper to frame the card and a sentiment from Unity’s December’s Sentiment Kit, Cherished Holly kit. I clear embossed the Gina K stamped sentiment onto shiny white paper and fussy cut it and a silver background to adhere it to.

So, some points on process, I used watercolor paper and my Schminke watercolors. I have a towel underneath I can use to wipe color off brushes, dry brushes off, catch splatter… learned this in a class. I always have 2 containers of water, 1 for clean water and the other to clean the brush off. I also always have paper towels on hand and a dryer or heat gun. A larger brush is useful for adding the wash of color over entire paper, and for dropping background colors into the wet “canvas”. Smaller brushes better for details. Always use duller, cooler colors in the background (check color wheel for cooler colors) and brighter colors for foreground. Also pick a good white opaque gouache, like Winsor & Newton, for highlights, snow and spatter. Remember to dry off the paper between each layer of color. And, yes, you can do repeated washes. I usually stick to 3-5 colors when painting… so in the case of the first card I used an orange, and orange red, a reddish brown and a brown. On the second card I used a blue, a deep green and a bit of gray. And I would liberally mix the colors together to get various shades between the colors. 

Finally, you need to keep a couple thoughts in mind, a focal point should be the crispest part and be strategically placed… that is, the most detailed, most contrasting colors (deepest, brightest, and lightest), and be located according to the Rule of Thirds. Although not entirely successful, in each case, I tried to make the largest tree the focus… Good things to consider, but don’t go nuts about it… it is just a card!

So, check out the video below. It will be on YouTube, so you can watch a bigger screen there, if you wish, by clicking on the word,”YouTube”.

Hope this was a helpful explanation. I will be making more of these as I can do them quickly, and my supplies are all over waiting for my craft room to be pulled together. I’ve been undergoing renovations throughout my entire house, so it’s been impossible to do much crafting. 

Thanks for stopping by - let me know if you have any questions! Thanks and happy crafting!

Friends of Unity November Blog Hop

 Welcome back to another fun blog hop! And if you could pardon me for stepping you back in time a week, I was motivated to make these cute Halloween decorations to support this month’s theme …

I think the ideas used here could be utilized again to make upcoming holiday decorations as well! I did take advantage of a few non-Unity items in their creation, including, from Tim Holtz, a frame, regular and the new Mica stains, paper and various ephemera. I also used a bunch of other Halloween ephemera I had collected over the years, Glow in the Dark rocks from Brutus Monroe, a stone mixture, cotton, and a cute box I had received as a Unity freebie with one of the membership kits. I also used a variety of paints, pens and paint.

So, to begin, I first put this cute frame together matching paper with the graveyard scene from Unity’s Toil and Trouble Kit. I stamped and embossed the images and colored it with metallic and white pens. I then dripped paint down the front and cut it down. I then painted the frame with Seth Apter purple paint, and Mica stains to match. I rubbed over the frame ribbing with metallic pastes. 

I found more paper (a plaid and a sparkly star purple) to back the image and used sticky strips to frame it. I then cut all the papers down and attached them and the frame front to the frame back. Then I used tacky glue to add glow stones to both sides. Once dried, I then filled in with more glue and added free white  crafting stones in various sizes, ensuring I could add the skull and gravestone at the top of each pile. I also used pens to add lowlights and highlights and added a grungy gray paste to the top of the gravestone button and cut off the back hole fastener part. I glued both pieces on and used gray Distress stain to darken the stones.

I then found a cute Tim Holtz boy paper doll I could sit atop the skull pile. I stamped the hat from the kit,  colored and fussy cut it out and added it to the top of the boy’s head. Finally, I glued a cotton web and spider to the top corner and called this one done. So fun to create and although not perfect, I’ll be able to remember the fun I had creating it, when I bring it out each year!

For the gift box, I pulled out Hallow Eve’s Tree, Boo-lieve and Spooky Girl, and combined with kit above.  I adore how this one turned out. Basically, I colored and fussy cut a couple of these out and stamped the other 2 sides right on patterned paper. I had a lot of fun again, using ephemera, Washi tape, glitter and various papers to decorate each side, ensuring a consistent color scheme. One of the papers, I even added glowing metallic cat eyes… lol! Again, I had a lot of fun decorating the box and will use it in as a small decorative item in a small niche area.

Hope you enjoyed these ideas and how you can transform common items into decorations using Unity stamps! Remember, to comment on each blog in the hop for a chance at some Unity goodness! Thanks for hopping!

Now, on to more fun ideas… you should have arrived here from:

Alaine’s blog

You are now at my blog, and next up is:

Robin’s blog

And if you want to start from the beginning, go to:

Crystal’s blog