Watercolor ATCs

I must have been in a creative mood this weekend. It's been pretty hectic lately with more medical problems than I care to revisit. So, with a quiet weekend at hand, I sat at my table and created and created. Here are some ATCs I did with watercolors.

These first two are images I saw in a children's book. Love the vibrancy of color in kids books.



These two are out of my imagination. The flowers are watercolors, but the butterfly is stamped and then colored in. The woman I did for a challenge I saw on a site. The challenge was to do a watercolor woman (head only) in 10 mins. or less. This took 9 mins.

Daisies and Butterflies

I loved doing this card. I did this following a sketch posted by Kerry on "The Stamp Shack". The easy part was the water coloring, cutting out the circles and the butterflies. The hard part was figuring out what background to put them on. Seemed like anything I used was too overpowering or not enough. Finally settled on making my own background paper using ranger inks. Hats off to those ladies that can put a gorgeous card mixing and matching papers.

Hiding in Plain View

I love how this card came out. I did this for Survivor 3 contest on Stamp-Shack. I stamped the face (Judkins) on a plain white cardstock. I then stamped a ton of the little green fern leaf using Jungle Green ink by Marvy (Rubber Stamp Tapestry). I alternated the two leaf stamps trying to blend the two images. HINT: Stamp the image three times. This gives a softer image to the 2nd and 3rd stamping. Once I was happy with the coverage I had with the leaves, I colored the lips and eye lids with Ochre (Marvy) using a q-tip. I added yellow green ink (Marvy) to the eyes. Boy did this make the image pop. Then I used Judkins color dusters and picked up Ochre (Marvy) and swirled it around the image with a heavier concentration of the color at the edges leaving the face clear of any color. This card required some skill and a some luck. For me, I think I got quite lucky!

Trick or ...ah...Treat!

Here's a Walk Through on how I did this ATC.

This is one of my favorite images that I picked up at a Stamping Convention. The image is from "TooMuchFun" Rubber Stamps. It's all colored in watercolors with hand drawn bricks and spider web. The kids are raised for a 3D effect.










Stamp the image using Versamark Black Ink on white cardstock. This gave me the clearest details.










I used water colors to color this image, but you can use any medium you are comfortable with. The area around the door is colored in an orange/brown color. I went back and darkened around the edges with the same color. The door is done in dark brown and the knocker in black. The window is done in yellow, shaded in orange. I didn't bother with the door knob because it'll get covered. The bumble bee is done in yellow, shaded with orange. The bear is done in a light brown, shaded with a dark brown and the princess is done in pink and shaded with purple. Once the kids are colored, cut them out very carefully, especially around the little bumble bee's antenna.




I drew the bricks to add more texture to the outside of the door. It felt like it was missing something, so I added the spiderweb. This web looks a bit skinny, so if you look at the finished ATC, I went back and added another line...must be a big spider living here! Then I used some pop dots and attached the kids giving them a finished 3D effect.

Sweet Pea

This card was done for a virtual swap hosted at Stamp-Shack. The image was supplied by inkinupstamps. From the first time I saw this image, it called out for a trellis. I drew one and colored the trellis, the image and the sky around it in watercolors. When finished, the lines of the stamp looked faded from the watercoloring, so I retraced the lines in india ink. I attached the colored image as is to the brown/green card, but, I didn't like so much white around the card. It didn't quite look right to me. So I very carefully (and I mean carefully) peeled it off and cut the white off. Then I debated quite a bit on what color cardstock to use for the background. I can color an image so I'm quite satisfied, but agonize over what cardstock to use as a background. Once I'd sorted out the background, I redrew the tendrils I had cut off and added a few more. The ribbon seems to finish it off for me. Which of the two cards do you prefer?

Bella ATC

This was for a "Bella" ATC swap I did at Stamp-Shack. The image was provided to me by a friend. Thanks Christie. She was really a lot of fun to do. Kind of like dressing up Barbie. Except she's so small that paper piecing her outfit was a bit hard on the hands. I cut her pants out of a jeans pp. The purse and the top are out of a paisely pp. The belt is a sliver cut from silver paper and the shoes on her bag is cut from a tag on a gift bag. I colored the background with watercolors. Generated the sayings and the $ sign on the computer. I scanned the image into the computer and printed it out. Once the ATC was assembled, I went back over the image with a black ink pen (because the computer scanned image wasn't as sharp as when you stamp it directly to paper).

Tim Holtz Class

My husband and kids gave me a wonderful mother's day present. Tim Holtz classes. Tim was doing a few different ones and I picked to do the "Artful Hand" and the "Mystery" class. Of all the instructors I've taken classes with, Tim is my all time favorite. He is a great teacher, patient and with a great sense of humor. The "Artful Hand" is a wooden hand that we decoupaged with sewing patterns. Once dry, I painted it and then added a bunch of trinkets. He gave us quite a few, but I had brought some with me so I used a bit of his and a bit of mine and a bit from my friends. The wings were colored with AI. This class was more fun than any I've done before.

The "Mystery" class was a total blast too. When I signed up for it, I had no idea what the class was about. The owner of Queen's Ink, Patti, wanted an extra class for their schedule last year. Tim didn't have one, but he figured he could come up with one. Patti promoted this new class as a Mystery class. She and Tim were both amazed that the Mystery class sold out before any of the other classes. Go figure. So, this year, he has added a Mystery class to his schedule. He does a different one in different areas so it won't be the same project as mine. Mine was a canvas that we colored with AIs, added a picture of a child, wings, trinkets, words and sealed everything with Beeswax. Everyone got the same kit in both classes, but amazingly not one person had the same end project. This was an amazing mother's day present, which I hope will be repeated again next year.

Doodling

Doodling is a lot of fun. I can't remember a single day that I haven't doodled on some piece of paper laying about or on an envelope that I just opened or even on a bill while on hold on the phone. Doodles don't have to make sense or even make a picture, they are just random lines and circles and dots. This ATC was made for a "Doodling" swap. I made my own background paper by doing a wash of colors on white watercolor paper. I used yellow and orange primarily. Then I added a bit of brown to deepen some of the orange areas. The doodling is done with a bronze metalic pen. I mounted the sun on black cardstock and glued it to the background paper.

Woodland Fae

Masking. I've fallen in love with this technique. It's not complicated to do, just tedious. First, I stamped the fairy in the middle. I didn't want to use the full image of the fairy, so I placed a sheet of post it note on the bottom half of the card. This way only a portion of her dress would be stamped (gave her a more camouflaged image). Then I stamped another image on a post it note. I cut out the post it note and placed it on top of the image on my card, aligning it carefully. Then I stamped the leaf around the image in various inks. I added the smaller leaf image on top. Water colored the fairy and the blank area around her face.

Fairy stamp by Enchanted Gal

Large leaf stamp by: Stampland

Small leaf stamp by: Purple Onions

Inks by Marvy

Dance like no one's watching

The image is from TAC. The saying is computer generated and the notes are hand painted. This is one of my most favorite ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). I stamped her in light brown. Didn't like the look for her so painted her with skin tone colors. Then I paper pieced her dress and hat. Punched a ton of little circles from white felt paper. Painted her shoes, the necklace and added bracelets. I mean who would get all dolled up and not have any jangling bracelets! I added notes and shadows to finish off the card. I loved her so much, I did her in a bunch of different colors.

Hello from a new member of the blogging community

I've been thinking of starting a blog for sometime now. I haven't done much about it, but I did think a lot about it. I thought it was a big to do about personal musings, and who would want to read about my musings. However, the more I read other people's blogs, be they friend or stranger, I realized I learned a lot from them. Whether it was their creative piece, or their creative writing or the pictures of their familes and surroundings. It all inspired me and made me happy. In a funny way, it linked me to an outside community which hereto was unknown. I fell in love with blogging and the people that shared their insights and their creativity. So, now I too am joining this community as an active member. Well, I hope an active member.