Welcome to the first Stamp ‘N Hop blog hop! I am honored to be part of a wonderful group of talented stampers who are sharing our favorite products from the Occasions catalog. If you’ve just come from Mo Rootes‘ post, I’m sure you found her project inspiring! I really like Mo’s stamping style and will definitely be CASEing her project. Thanks so much for continuing your blog hop by stopping by to see my post!
I have been an awe by the amazing cards that I have seen created with the Waterfront stamp set. Honestly, watercoloring has always intimidated me a little. But, with the Waterfront stamp set, creating a watercolored project is quite a lot of fun.
Our family has a summer camp at a lake in Upstate New York. It is a place to relax, rejuvenate, and reconnect with family and friends. My blood pressure literally falls when we get to our camp, unpack, and then sit outside to view the lake. The view from our beach was the inspiration for my card. Below is a real picture of the view, and beside it is the finished card.
- The card base is a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock cut to 4 1/4″ x 11″. It is then scored at 5 1/2″ on the 11″ side to form a top-folding card.
- The frame is a piece of Watercolor Paper cut to 4″ x 5 1/4″.
- The final watercolored card front is cut to 3 3/4″ x 5″.
- I started with Old Olive ink and two stamps from the set. After stamping the images, I used my Aqua Painter (very light on the water) to spread the color. To get another layer of a different green, I used the same stamps and Garden Green ink to add just a touch of a darker color. When I used the Aqua Painter to blend the darker green, I used more of a pouncing motion to blend the color. The result looks like different color trees for the background.
- To add the water, I decided to use two shades of blue. The first is Marina Mist. The second is Island Indigo. After each color, I blended with the Aqua Painter. You’ll notice that an area was left for the rocks on the beach.
- The rocks were added with Crumb Cake ink and blended. To add more depth to the rocks, additional layers of Crumb Cake ink and Early Espresso ink were added to the base.
- The trees were fun to attempt! Since there isn’t a large tree trunk stamp in the set, I created the trunk with Early Espresso ink (you’ll see a “blob” of the ink on the bottom right corner of the watercolor paper) and the Aqua Painter. The tree branches were stamped by only inking the top of the tree stamp. Both Garden Green and Old Olive inks are stamped in the trees. To create the grassy area below the trees, I used the tree stamp and only inked the very top of the stamp. After stamping the “grass”, I used the Aqua Painter to blend the colors.
- To give the piece a little more of a realistic touch, I went back into the beach area to add slightly defined rocks. They were added with Early Espresso ink and the Aqua Painter. Also more tree tops on the hills were added in both greens – Garden Green and Old Olive.
- The most difficult part of making this card was deciding how to cut the picture down to 3 3/4″ x 5″ to fit in front of the frame piece. As you can see from the final card, I decided to focus more on the trees and rocks in the foreground. The sentiment is also from the Waterfront stamp set and was added with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.
I hope you have (or soon will have) the Waterfront stamp set in your collection! Take some time to let the inner watercolor artist in you free! You will be amazed at the results, and you’ll have fun while you create.
Be sure to continue the Stamp ‘N Hop blog hop by going to Georgia Gaydos‘ post. She has an amazing project to share with you! A list of all participants for this month is shown below. Also below are the main products that I used to create my watercolor card. If you click on any picture, you’ll go to my on-line store.
Happy stamping!
Laurie
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February Stamp ‘N Hop Artists: