AECP Level 2 Card 4 - Creative Watercolour Media

 I have always loved the look of watercolour and although I am very new to this technique, this class offered my some wonderful tips and tricks and gave me another chance to practice. 

Using the Altenew Precious Peony stamp set https://altenew.com/products/precious-peony-stamp-set I stamped 2 of the images onto a A2 panel of Ninah Solar white 80 lb cardstock using Versafine Onyx Black ink and then embossing these images with clear embossing powder. 

I used Altenew crisp die inks in colours Rose Quartz, Cosmic Berry, Purple Wine, Forest Glades and Evergreen which are water-reactive inks so work really well for watercolouring too! I took my time and started with wetting one petal at a time with plain water using a small paintbrush and then dropping small amounts of the lightest pink into that area and covering the whole petal. I repeated this for each area. When that layer was dry I added darker shades to give more depth and accent the areas where there would naturally be more shadows, like the under side of each petal. 

When the flowers and leaves are painted and dry I used a very watered-down was of limestone ink over the whole background.  I felt that a light grey wash would contrast nicely with the bright pink flowers.

I added some black ink splatters, cut the panel down by 1/8" on each side and adhered this to a silver cardstock panel A2 size. This was then stuck to a card base the same size. 

For the sentiment, I used 2 sentiments from the Delicate Bouquet stamp set https://altenew.com/products/delicate-bouquet-stamp-set. I used some black cardstock from my stash and after using my anti-static powder bag on the cardstock, I used Versamark sticky embossing ink to stamp the words then heat embossed them using silver embossing powder. The sentiments were adhered with foam tape to add more dimension to the card. A few silver gems scattered around the sentiment finished the card off nicely. 

TIP: Always use an anti-static powder bag or even a light dusting of cornstarch or baby powder before heat embossing anything so that the embossing powder only sticks to the places were embossing ink has been laid down.

Here is a close up photo of the finished card. I know I need lots of practice with water colouring but as with anything in life, practice makes perfect 😍