The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store - Blessed Are The Pure In Heart Watercolor Card With A Tutorial

Hello blogging friends!  Today, is my day to post for The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.   I will be giving my card to someone for Easter, but with all of the beautiful sentiments and verses in the New Stamp Simply Clear Stamps you would be able to create cards for many different occasions.  I also have a tutorial to share with you on how I created the watercolor background.

Here is the card I designed.  I used one of the sentiments from the Stamp Simply Clear Stamps SS-Sent008 Blessings/Beatitudes 2.  I just absolutely love all of the new stamp sets that Sharon has to offer!  If you have any of the stamp sets from her first release they will also work nicely to mix and match with the new stamps.

These are the products I used to create the watercolor background.  I used the DecoArt Metallic Lustre - Gold Rush to add a pretty metallic shimmer to the paper.  I also used four of the Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, Squeezed Lemonade, Worn Lipstick.  The paint brush I used is a #16 Round.  I like to use this larger brush when I do backgrounds but you could use whatever you have in your crafty stash.

I used my craft mat and smooshed the Distress Inks on to the mat.  I also scooped out a little bit of the DecoArt Metallic Lustre - Gold Rush.  So this is what my paint palette looks like after adding water to active the colors.

I am using a piece of Ranger Watercolor Paper.  You will notice on most watercolor paper one side has a little more texture or tooth to it and the other side will be smoother.  Whenever I am stamping on watercolor paper I stamp on the smoother side.  Doing this will give you a crisper stamped image or sentiment.  It's kind of hard to see in this picture but I stamped one of the sentiments from the SS-Sent008 Blessings/Beatitudes 2  Stamp Simply Clear Stamps in the lower right corner.  I used VersaMark Ink and then heat embossed using Stampendous Super Fine Embossing Powder - Detail White. 

When I am creating a watercolor background the first thing I do is to apply just plain water to the entire piece of paper.  If you start out with wet paper the colors will start to flow as soon as they touch the paper.  I started by applying some of the DecoArt Metallic Lustre - Gold Rush.  Then I dropped in the other colors.  I usually start with the lightest colors and work my way to the darker or more intense colors.

I use a heat tool to dry the paper in between the layers of color.  This is how the paper looked after the first layer of color.  I add water and color as I go and then when I get the look I am going for I heat set the paper.  This was very pretty--I loved how the colors blended and I could have stopped at this point but I wanted the colors to be a little more intense.

This is how the paper looked after I added more color.  For this second layer I used more paint/ink and less water and then I used a heat tool to dry the paper.  After the paper has cooled off you can take a baby wipe or damp cloth and wipe off any excess paint/ink on the embossed area.  Now the white embossing really pops and I love the shimmer from the metallic gold that is blended throughout the background.

Here you can see even more of the gold shimmer!  To create the cross I used two of the crosses from  Spellbinders Crosses Two set.  For the larger cross I used a pearl white paper and for the smaller cross I used white cardstock.  I used Therm-O-Web Foam Squares on the watercolor background and on the smaller cross to add some extra dimension to the card.  I also used Ranger - Glossy Accents and Scor-Tape to assemble the card.  I added the watercolor background to a white card base.  The card size is an A2 top folding card.  To finish the card I also added some Melissa Frances White Pearls to the cross and corners of the card.

Here is a close up of the sentiment and shimmer.

Thank you so much for joining me today and I hope you enjoyed the watercolor tutorial.

Please be sure to check out The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store for all of the fantastic paper crafting products and the Blog for inspiration from the Design Team.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend and a very 

Happy and Blessed Easter!

Hugs & Smiles,

Heidi

Supplies  
Stamps:  Stamp Simply Clear Stamps SS-Sent008 Blessings/Beatitudes 2
Paper:  Ranger Watercolor Paper - 8.5 x 11, Cardstock - White, Pearl White
Ink:  VersaMark Ink, Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, Squeezed Lemonade, Worn Lipstick
Dies:  Spellbinders Crosses Two
Accessories:  DecoArt Metallic Lustre - Gold Rush, Stampendous Super Fine Embossing Powder - Detail White, Melissa Frances White Pearls, Ranger - Glossy Accents, Scor-Tape, Therm-O-Web Foam Squares, Paint Brush Round #16