Monday, February 1, 2021

February Release Blog Hop with Joy Clair Designs

 


Hello everyone!  I am so excited to be a part of the February Release
Blog Hop and Giveaway at Joy Clair Designs!



I chose the "Forever Friends" set to create my first cards.  I changed my mind a lot throughout
the process of making these.  I was going to make one slimline card and it did not
come together the way I had imagined...on to Plan B!
I printed out my design onto hot press watercolor paper twice.  I changed the color
of the flower sprays to gray and the sentiment to a very deep violet.  I knew the color
palette I wanted to use so changing the color of the printing was helpful.


My plan for the slimline was to paint these images, cut them out, flip them
so one would cover the top half and one would cover the bottom half with the
sentiment in-between.  I wanted to watercolor these images and I used
the September 2019 Love From Lizi card kit as my palette inspiration.  It's
obviously a fall palette but I was ready for some rich color!  Enough already
with the winter and the snow!!


I painted these together - as opposed to painting one to completion and then going
on to the next one.  I painted my largest flower first.  This is the main focal point of
the spray.


I also painted the violet buds and then moved onto the gold flowers.  I painted
in layers not using a lot of water.


I used the same darker colors for shading on both flowers.


I tried to balance out my colors.  There were 7 flowers/buds.  I painted 3
in the plum color and 4 in the gold. 


I used green and plum on the leaves near of the plum flower.


I made one stem of leaves the gold color and one set in the plum color.

Watercolor Palette:
Aussie Red Gold
Bright Violet
Scarlet Lake
Olive Green
Stil de Grain
Yellow Ochre
Quinacridone Magenta
I added a few colors here and there to deepen and brighten.  And then I fussy
cut my images - including the sentiment.
I cut a piece of medium colored plum card stock to put on my cream colored
slimline base.  This is where things went in a different direction!  Although
I liked how it looked, sort of, when I put the pieces against the ivory color
it was beautiful!  And I felt that the 2 images were too busy for the slimline
card - so I made 2 cards.  On top of the ivory bases - one slimline base and
the other an A2 size top folding made from Neenah 80lb Classic Crest Cream
card stock, I cut a panel for both cards 1/8" smaller out of plum card stock.
This is a Hero Arts card stock called Plum...so pretty!  I also printed and cut
another sentiment for the second card.  I cut 2 panels of the cream card
stock - one 3" x 8" and the other 4" x 5 1/4".  I embossed these panels to give
a bit of texture and interest to the background.
I adhered my flowers and sentiment with liquid glue to the cards.  As an
embellishment I used clear iridescent sequins and gems.


I hope you'll hop along with us as we introduce the February Release!  I am
so loving this Forever Friends set!  Please comment for your chance to win!
Stay tuned for Day 2!

Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting!  I hope my project has 
inspired you to create something beautiful!

Betsy















16 comments:

  1. Two gorgeous cards!! I love the elegant white backgrounds, and your coloring is so beautiful!

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  2. So clever of you to show us how you can create, basically the same card in A2 and slimline.

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  3. Thanks for the steps. You made very pretty cards. love them. They are also so elegant!

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  4. Wow!!!! Love your coloring. Thanks for the tutorial.

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  5. WOW! Gorgeous creations, did you use a laser printer for your watercolor paper? If not, how do you keep ink jet from smearing with water added

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  6. Thank you! I do not have a laser printer. I have an HP 3035 Inkjet. This printer was made for printing card stock/watercolor paper. After printing I let my piece set for an hour or 2. It doesn't smear. I'm not sure why but it could be the type of inkjet ink. But printing my images in gray, it wouldn't have mattered if the ink ran or not I don't think. I don't use a lot of water either. The images were not that big so they didn't require a lot of water. Hope this helps!

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  7. Thank you so much Joy! This is a stunning release!

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  8. How pretty your shading is. I like how it gives the flowers such depth.

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  9. Beautiful. the coloring is
    so delicate. Love it.
    thanks for sharing
    txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete