Freshly Brewed Projects Blog Hop - For the Guys

Hello again, and welcome to another Freshly Brewed Projects Blog Hop. Today we have the theme - For The Guys, and as Fathers Day is coming up next month in Australia, it is a great way to use the inspiration for you to create some cards for a special guy in your life. But wherever you are in the world, there is a special man, son, son-in-law or friend who would love to get a hand made card.

 

 

 I have chosen to use the stamp set - A Good Man. This set is perfect for the water colouring technique, and I have chosen the simplest form of this technique this time, choosing to use Stampin' Up! Water Color pencils 1 and 2 packs. 

 

 

This detail view shows how beautifully the w/c pencils blend with a little water. Something I love about them is that you have a lot of control over colour placement yet you still achieve the lovely fluid effect of water-colouring. It is such a quick technique that can easily be overworked, so the trick is to leave lots of white space and not colour in the entire area. The "painting" part of this technique took less than 1 minute for this card.

You can get more depth of colour by applying stronger pencil strokes before adding the water. You can also get variety in colour by using different colour pencils on the image before applying the water.

When I was at art school I was taught never to cut water colour paper, but to tear it. So I used a steel ruler against the paper and tore along the edges. I love the slight roughness achieved - it just seems to "go" with this technique and the texture in the paper.

 

I teamed the image with patterned paper from the Boho Indigo Suite, matted onto Night of Navy A4 card and embellished with some Terracotta Tile Scalloped Linen Ribbon. 

My family loves the beach and we are all looking forward to the summer holidays when we can relax and enjoy the sunshine. We've just accomplished a lifelong wish of purchasing a house at the coast, so there will be lots of beach time for us in the future. And that thought is my inspiration for this card. It's a really good thought as I sit here on another cold winter morning.

I plan on giving this card to my husband who works 7 days a week. It's time he slowed down a bit.  I wonder if he will get the message!

 

 

Please see the list of products below and click on any product that you wish to purchase. Feel free to contact me if you'd like more information on the water-colour pencil technique, but for now check out the samples from other creative Stampin' Up! demonstrators. You'll get some wonderful inspiration! 

You are with Ann Craig now, so just continue the hop by selecting the next name on the list.

·       Libby Dyson

·       Jessie Holton

·       Narelle Fasulo

·       Leonie Schroder

·       Kelly Kent

·       Ann Craig

·       Debbie Yeomans

·       Jeanne Moss

 

Product List

A Good Man Cling Stamp Set

[149270]

$42.00

Boho Indigo Product Medley (English)

[153132]

$122.00

Watercolor Pencils

[141709]

$27.75

Watercolor Pencils Assortment 2

[149014]

$21.75

Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper

[149612]

$15.75

Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad

[101406]

$17.50

Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock

[106577]

$15.25

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock

[106550]

$17.00

Terracotta Tile 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Scalloped Linen Ribbon

[149705]

$14.00

Water Painters

[151298]

$21.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$6.00

Stampin' Seal

[152813]

$14.00

Stamp Class of the Month - Watercolour Techniques - Project 1

This year I am doing a Special Class of the Month for my customers and we started the year with a fun class on one of my favourite techniques - water-colour.

Stampin' Up!® has released some wonderful water colour pencils in the Occasions Catalogue, so I took advantage of that to indulge my love of teaching and water colouring.  This class (and all the special classes) are product based classes, so the participants receive the product they need to complete the projects, instruction on 3 great projects and a variety of techniques, all from the one class. 

Look at these gorgeous colours - and they all coordinate with Stampin' Up! card stock and inks. You get 12 lovely colours, plus white, and the pencils are smooth and easily applied to a number of different surfaces.

I used a variety of stamp sets for this class as I wanted to demonstrate how versatile all

 our stamps are and how the stamps from the Annual Catalogue work really well with this technique and product too. 

The first card we made used an old favourite set - Wetlands. You'll find this on page 133 of the Annual Catalogue

 I designed this as a card suitable for the males in our lives. The main focus of course, was the technique of using the w/c pencils to create a background. We used w/c paper as the base, stamped the images from Wetlands, using Archival Black ink and let that dry for a few seconds before applying the colour. I showed the class how to use the side of the pencil rather than the tip to get a softer more uneven effect, and then we spritzed the entire piece with water. For a smoother finish you can work back into the colour with an Aqua Painter.

You can see in the detail how the texture of the paper shows through, and you can enhance this using your Aqua Painter to soften some edges (like I did at the horizon). You can also spritz with more water and let a bit of serendipity occur.

I used Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry and Pacific Point for the sky. A combination of Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay and a touch of Melon Mambo in the water and Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Early Espresso for the sandy foreground

W/c paper is great for accepting water and allows you to work quickly and freely. 

I finished off the card by matting the stamped image with Basic Black. A few rounds of Linen Thread add to the rustic effect and the edges of the w/c paper have been distressed.

The base card is created by stamping one of the Timeless Textures stamps around the edges, using Crumb Cake ink on Crumb Cake card stock. I think it adds to the beachy effect. What do you think?  

I will blog separately about the other projects, so don't forget to come back to visit during the week. 

Meanwhile if you would like further information feel free to contact me.

 I cannot finish this post without offering each of you a fabulous opportunity to join Stampin' Up! during Sale-A-Bration. You get all the benefits of being a member of the SU family plus during SAB you can choose 2 additional free stamp sets of your choice. Depending on your choice this can be well over $100 of stamps for free and that is in addition to all the heavily discounted items you choose for your Starter Kit.

Do you like what you see and think you'd like to earn some extra income from stamping?  

If you are looking for a hobby, a part or full time job, working from home and at your own pace, AND you love craft, then you should consider doing what I do. It is fun and rewarding.

  See more information on my website or contact me with questions you may have. 
 

Shop on-line for products used in this project.
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