Watercolor Washes and Color Blending

So, if you wanted to do a watercolor wash and make a gradient or blend colors you would think you could just slap some water and some color on your paper.  That's what I would have thought.  But I have learned in my Watercolor Card making class at www.onlinecardclasses.com that is much more complicated.  The instructors all have different techniques to get similar results and some of the colors I've seen blended are just absolutely gorgeous.

I decided to give it a whirl.  I used two colors I had on hand. Winsor and Newton Rose Madder and Cobalt Blue.  They are in teensy weensy tubes and cost an arm and a leg but that's a whole 'nother story!  I decided that I would start with the red color and then add some blue to it to make a violet and then blend it out to blue.

I worked at it a few times and I know I have a lot more practice to do!  When you are working with watercolors it is important to make sure your water to  pigment ration among your colors is consistent.  That sounds easy enough. Not. For. Me.  HAHA! But I am rapidly learning what does NOT work and other than wasting a bit of paint and a bit of paper...well, I just chalk it up to practice will eventually make perfect something passable!

After my color wash had dried and I had my background I used some Altenew stamps and heat embossed them in white.  I added a few sequins and that was it.  I don't have access to all my playthings right now so I'm just trying to make do with what I have on hand.

All in all...are these cards that I've made from what I learned in the Watercolor class my favorite of all time? NO! They probably aren't even in the middle...but I will tell you that it has been so much fun and is so interesting...and I love playing around with brushes, water and pigments.  I really am learning a lot.  I just need to make the transition from brain to fingers!

Here is my card:

Happy Birthday Shaker Card

Shaker cards have seen a resurgence in popularity in the last year or so.  I can remember making them (and shaker embellishments for scrapbooking) many years ago.  We mostly filled the shaker cards with punched images whereas now the trend seems to be filling with sequins or beads or other glittery things...but the shaker part remains virtually the same. 

I always enjoyed them but haven't made one in a few years, I think.  They are always fun to make and fun to receive.

Yesterday was the Grand Opening for Impressive Ideas...a favorite stamp store in the metro Atlanta area.  Over Memorial Day weekend the former location burned to the ground.  We were all devastated....it was like losing a friend.  But the owners vowed to get it back up and running as soon as they could and they did it! They opened less than 6 months after the fire and moved into an even bigger and better space.  It looks absolutely awesome and before I knew it I had several must have items in my basket!

One of those items was a Die-Namics Birthday Celebration die which is a round birthday sentiment and PERFECT for making a shaker card.  It cut beautifully....and was really so easy to make.  I love the stitched circle. I also used a stitches die from Lawn Fawn to do the stitched edges on the top and bottom of the front. I quickly made 3 using some birthday paper from Paper Studio.

Here is the first one I did:

It was so fast I quickly (read: in less than an hour) whipped out 2 more!

I think they are festive and fun and I already have two ready to go in tomorrow's mail.  I figure I just about paid for the die! LOL...You know...an American Greetings birthday card like this would run $4 or so....so 3 at $4 means I saved $12! HAHA!  Only a few more to go and the die will have paid for itself!
Seriously!  That's my justification and I'm sticking to it!

Happy Crafting!