Today I'm sharing two colourful card projects featuring the new Vicki Boutin - Colour Kaleidoscope - So Fun Stamp & Die Set and Vicki Boutin - Colour Kaleidoscope - Botanical Stencils.
When it comes to watercolouring I have very little confidence in my skills but I'm happy to keep practicing and eventually (hopefully) I'll get better at it. I usually watercolour with my Zig Clean Colour Real Brush markers. I find I have a lot of control with them. But for these cards I decided I wanted to try Vicki Boutin's art crayons instead.
My first step was to create my background from Neenah Smooth Solar White 80 lb cardstock. Using one of the stencils that came in the pack, I scribbled an art crayon on a plastic sheet and used my Vicki Boutin Stencil Brush to pick up the dry colour off the sheet.
Starting in the middle, I applied the colour through the stencil in a circular motion using heavy pressure so that part would be darker. I used a much lighter hand as I moved outward to achieve a light fade, almost fading out to nothing.
Next, I prepped a piece of Strathmore Cold Press Watercolour Paper by rubbing my anti-static powder bag on the paper. The powder bag removes static from the paper which prevents stray embossing powders from sticking to places you don't want which could ruin your project. Using my MISTI tool, I stamped my images using Versafine Onyx Black Ink, poured Ranger Clear Embossing Powder over the images and heat set it to create a beautiful embossed effect.
Now for the fun part. The watercolouring! I scribbled two art crayons on my glass craft mat, sprayed water on them and then swooshed it around with my watercolour brush to give it a good mix. I used two different brushes for each colour. I made sure to use my heat gun to dry the paper in between applications and before starting the next layer.
Once the images were dry, I used the two coordinating dies that came with the stamp set and die-cut them out. I fussy cut the images that did not have matching dies.
Next, I trimmed the stenciled background panel using the largest of the Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Rectangles Stackables dies. I adhered the panel to an A2 sized card base using cardstock from Stampin' Up called Calypso Coral. I then started placing my images where I thought they would look best without adhering them. I usually do this so that I can figure out where my sentiment is going to go.
I stamped and heat embossed the "love you" sentiment in the bottom left corner, adhered my stamped images using a Lawn Fawn Glue Tube and Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Dots for dimension. I added some Studio Katia Onyx Crystals for some added interest.
And finally, I added some clear Wink of Stella to the flowers to give them some sparkle. And that completes my first card!
My second card uses many of the same techniques as the first card with just a few alterations. For the background I stenciled the entire panel in a left-to-right gradient pattern. I wanted it to look darker on the left side and then fade out on the right.
The flowers were white heat embossed using Versamark Ink and Brutus Monroe White Alabaster embossing powder. I changed up the colours of the flowers and the background, adhered everything to a black A2 sized Bazzill cardstock cardbase. And finally I added Wink of Stella to the flowers and added some Studio Katia Enchanted Sea Fusion Sequins.
I hope these card projects will inspire you to try a technique that may be a little outside your comfort zone like I did. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below.
And don't forget to stop by the Scrapbook Nerd online store to view all the new Vicki Boutin products.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day! :)
Beautiful cards!
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