Have you played with watercolor lately? I tend to watercolor a few images, think to myself: "I really like those" and then they sit on my counter for days, weeks, or even months. I like the piece so much and then worry about detracting from the image by overpowering it with the wrong card "setting".
Luckily, this fish, from Stampin' Up!s By the Tide set, didn't sit on my counter as long as they usually do. It found a home reminiscent of the sea on a textured color block background. Color Blocks is the theme for the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge today. I've followed that challenge for awhile but today is the first time I've played along.
- I stamped the fish in Jet Black Stazon ink on watercolor paper.
- I did a faint water color shadow with Crumb Cake ink. You could use any of the lighter neutrals. Even Wisteria Wonder might be good.
- You could apply your color with ink from your pad cover or directly from the markers if you are using watercolor paper. I used Midnight Muse and Always Artichoke markers. Apply your ink just to a portion of the image and then blend it out with a blender pen or Aquapainter.
- (I often grab prestamped images on watercolor paper and color them away from my stamp studio. Bringing markers in their case is much more portable than bringing lots of ink pads.)
- I pieced together some scraps of Midnight Muse, Wild Wasabi, and Island Indigo card stock, securely butting the edges together in the back with regular tape.
- Add texture to your color blocks by running through the Big Shot in an embossing folder. I used Fancy Fan because it looks like waves. (Click here for another example of a similar technique with colorblocking.)
- Trim your colorblocked piece to your desired size. I used 5 1/4 x 4" and adhere to your card.
- I added mini silver brads in the corners, marking the insertion points with the grid from the Essential Paper Piercing Pack.
- It couldn't be one of my cards without adding dimensionals. Since I really wanted my fish image to stand out I doubled my dimensionals.
Here's another fairly simple setting: my turtle card.
