This is the first card I made for the WT 527 challenge "Watercolored Background". Yes, there really is a watercolor background at the bottom of all this ;)
I had been playing around with glossy photo paper after Lindsey (The Frugal Crafter) said in one of her YouTube videos that you get fabulous results when coloring your stamp with water based markers and stamping on the glossy photo paper. She's right, but that's a card for a later date ;)
Since the paper was sitting on my table, I decided to see what would happen if you used it for a watercolor background. I started this out with Distress Inks and some unexpected but interesting results. Then I had the brilliant idea to add black Bisters. Got a little heavy handed so I had to lots of water to try to lighten it up. It was basically a hot mess, so I turned to my tried and true fix and painted over it with watered down gesso. That looked pretty good, so I grabbed the swallowtail stamp, spritzed it lightly with water, and stamped. Loved the result! I took a wide flat brush and stroked out from the edge of the image to create a little bit of a halo effect, and set it aside to dry.
I die cut the piece with a stitched rectangle die and decided it HAD to have a sentiment. That part was easy, but deciding what color ep to use was a struggle. I experimented on leftover scrap with black and white (and to see if the photo paper could take the heat), but I didn't like either and ended up with Liquid Platinum. It shows up better IRL than in the photo, but I think Silver might have been a better choice. I did end up with one crack from the heat embossing, but it it isn't terribly noticeable, and I like the card well enough to just go with it.
As always, thanks for looking!
Date: Friday, April 17, 2015 GMT Views: 1382
Favorited:5
Registered: May 23, 2009 Location: sunny california Posts: 9825
Mon, Apr 20, 2015 @ 8:01 PM
This is just lovely, JogyLynn. What an amazing look you achieved with all those different steps. The embossed sentiment is perfect. All the swirling lines in the bg feel like the butterfly is flying.
Registered: February 21, 2007 Location: Bay City, MICHIGAN Posts: 17556
Fri, Apr 24, 2015 @ 8:30 PM
Not sure how or why I missed this beauty, but it took 3 reads through the process es you used to follow along! With your "mad scientist" style of mixing all different kinds of media, this really came out gorgeous!! Love the colors, muted with the gesso, then stamping with the butterfly to REMOVE the gesso from the card! The halo effect looks really amazing!
Can only imagine the trouble you and Nancy are going to get into when you get together - you are both "mad scientists" at play with all your mixed media!!! LOL
------------------------------ SUE aka GREENIE - Twisted Sistah Handmade cards because..No one displays an email on their mantle, or saves a FB post in a box of treasures! Nothing is impossible with God!