Holly Concert
Posted: November 21, 2013 Filed under: Holly Berries, Holly Concert, Watercolour 10 Comments
I am enjoying pairing the lovely new Christmas dies from Penny Black with the Christmas stamps. When I had finished this panel featuring the sweet little birds I wanted to frame it on the cardbase. A co-ordinating mat could have worked but the die cut holly added a bit more interest without detracting from the scene.
The white circles are “snow” made by flicking masking fluid onto the paper before I started. I applied ink to the Holly Concert stamp with markers then stamped it on wet watercolour paper so that the colours bled into each other. Using both Memento markers and inks I coloured and blended with water to fill all the images. I then restamped the image to redefine the outlines. I wet all the surrounding space and painted blue ink into it sometimes blending with the image, at other times stopping short of the image.
I am very fussy about colour matching so I have been making card bases for my watercolour cards from watercolour paper. I use 25% cotton for the card base as it is much cheaper than the 100% cotton that is my preference for painting and stamping. If I found a cardstock the right colour I would use that instead but my white is too white and my cream, too cream.
Back soon, I hope…
Supplies:
Stamps: Holly Concert, Silent Night (PB)
Creative Dies: Holly Berries
Inks: Memento Danube Blue, Cottage Ivy, Rich Cocoa, Lady Bug (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Fabriano 25% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid
Heather Telford 
So beautiful! Love it!
That is one of my hesitations about watercolour paper… it doesn’t match any cardstock I’ve ever found. Sometimes a coloured cardbase will solve it happily for me. This is such a sweet and perfectly created card, Heather.
Wow, if I could only water color like this! I have this stamp (not the die yet). What a perfect way to frame your beautiful birds. Your w/c on this particular stamp is just the perfect media for the softness you achieved with your technique. Simply lovely, as always. TFS & Hugs
Great card….and tip about using 25% watercolor paper for your card base! TFS
Jan
Thanks for the information on watercolor paper. I will give this a try!
Lovely card! Like the water color look, ,sweet birds. Like that you used the flourish in place of a mat, too. Great idea. TFS 🙂
Beautiful effect with the water colouring.
I love the movement that this technique gives to these wee robins! The holly works so well taking the ‘squareness’ out of the image and continuing that lovely flowing movement. Pure genius! Wonderful inspiration! I don’t have the holly die but I do have the PSX stamp of robins which is similar to the PB…gonna give this technique a try with it!
Gorgeous! Your coloring is always so pretty and inspiring!
Really beautiful, Heather. I love the way you have painted the pretty image.