Good morning to you! If you’re a regular around here you’ll notice that this is my second post today. The first one was two hours ago and is part of a Hero Arts Blog Hop, so you should definitely check it out. There are prizes to be won! 

Today starts our new challenge at A Blog Named Hero and it’s all about Watercolor! I do hope you’ll join us, but please make sure to read our Challenge Rules, so that you are qualified to read one of the two monthly prizes. Now, on to my card.

I started this card with just a vague idea of what I wanted to do, the stars aligned for me, and this was the result. Let me explain how I made it.

• I inked up the Large Flower Stencil with Distress Oxide ink in Hickory Smoke. I tried to make sure I got the stencil nice and inky, which is easy with the Oxide inks.
• I placed a piece of watercolor paper over that, and ran it through my die cutting machine. This transferred the ink to the watercolor paper and made a bit of an impression, as if I embossed the paper.
• I used clear embossing powder over this “stamped and embossed” piece of paper and heat set the powder. I did this because Oxide inks take a while to dry and also to give me as much help as possible with the watercoloring portion of this card. Ha!
• Then I just watercolored away. This took a bit of time, but I am not a watercolor expert, and I was doing light layers so that I could come back and deepen areas where I wanted to, and correct any issues I might have made for myself along the way.
• As you can see I used the purples in the center and went out to the greens and greys toward the edges. I made this into my version of a succulent.

The Hero Art Liquid Watercolors are a dream to work with, even for a beginning watercolorist. You can achieve endless shades of the colors by adding water as desired, and they blend beautifully. I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed working with them. My only complaint? They just came out with an eleventh shade and my palette only holds ten colors. Someone needs a bigger palette!

This picture shows the glare from the card front when tilted in the light. When I was finished coloring the panel I added shimmer marker to the entire image, and once that dried I added versamark and clear embossing powder over the card front to create a sort of shellacked finish. I love it! I adhered that to the front of a card base and then I added the die cut word and the embossed sentiment strip.

Thanks for coming by today. I sure do hope you join our challenge, I know you have watercolors and would love to win a prize!

Supplies:

Large Flower StencilEH | SSS | HA |	Prayers Stamp & CutEH | SSS | HA |	Love Stamp & CutEH | SSS | HA	Liquid Watercolor, MossEH | SSS | HA
Liquid Watercolor, PineEH | SSS | HA	Liquid Watercolor, PurpleEH | SSS | HA	Liquid Watercolor, BlackEH | SSS | HA	Liquid Watercolor, Mulled WineEH | SSS | HA
Hickory SmokeEH | SSS |	VersaMark PadEH | SSS	Hero Arts WhiteEH | SSS | HA	Hero Arts ClearEH | SSS
Watercolor CardstockEH | SSS | AZ	Neenah 110 lbEH | SSS	Gina K. Black OnyxSSS | GK	Clear Overlay PenEH | SSS
Powder ToolEH | SSS	Be Creative Tape, 1/2″EH | SSS	Mini Glossy AccentsEH | SSS	Multi MediumEH | SSS
Foam TapeEH | SSS | AZ	Embossing GunEH | SSS	Watercolor PaletteSSS | AZ	Craft FoamSSS | AZ
Stamp ShammyEH | SSS	MISTIEH | SSS	Teflon Bone FolderEH | SSS | AZ	TweezersEH | SSS
Paper TrimmerEH | SSS