Inspiration: Clean & Simple #83 + CAS Colours & Sketches #284
The colour combo in the CAS challenge was a little darker than what we have seen floating around this summer, but with the Holidays stuff coming out, it was good timing to get some autumn leaves inked. I received my Stampin' Up! 2018 Holidays Catalogue order just as I was coming back from out of town, so the combo inspired me to use the Falling for Leaves bundle. The Thinlits set includes some amazing intricate leaves, but because I ordered the new assortment of watercolor pencils, I decided to stamp the images from the set and emboss them in Copper powder before watercoloring them. To mirror the sketch, I decided to use the large die from the Stitched Labels Framelits set as my mat and it pairs nicely with the other bundle. The French sentiment reads, "Harvest of Thanks." The little copper leaves peeking from the sentiment strip are Leaves Trinkets which can be found on page 198 of the Annual Catalogue. They complement the Falling for Leaves suite very well.
The jury is still out on the watercolor pencils. Even though I was working on watercolor paper, they still feel hard to blend for me. I've always liked watercoloring with inks, even though you can't move them around for long on the paper before it dies it. It took a bit of practice, but I quickly achieved resuts that I liked and could create great color contrast easily. I find it hard to achieve the same level of contrast with the watercolor pencils. (This does not speak to the quality of the Stampin' Up! pencils - I had some pencils from another company before and found their pigment hard to control as well.) I'll keep testing them out some more to see if I can improve the results I get, but at least they are inexpensive so it won't be as disappointing if they don't work out for me.
By the way, I want to point out that the sparkly bottom border was cut out of Joyous Noel 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper and I am happy to report that this latest glimmer paper from Stampin' Up! is no longer shedding glitter. That is excellent news, because the previous glimmer papers were shedding like crazy, which was driving me insane! I am grateful that the issue has been resolved.
Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Feuilles en fête (Falling for Leaves)
Cardstock: Cajun Craze, Blueberry Bushel, Mossy Meadow
Glimmer Paper: Joyous Noel 6" x 6"
Ink: VersaMark, Cajun Craze, Blueberry Bushel, Mossy Meadow
Accessories: Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder, Vanilla Medium Envelope, Watercolor Pencils,
Metallic Pearls, Stampin' Dimensionals, Blueberry Bushel 1/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Leaves Trinkets,
Detailed Leaves Thinlits, Stitched Labels Framelits, Aqua Painter Brush
The overall design of your card is a bit busy for our clean and simple challenges, but I really like your bold use of our challenge colors! The copper is a super accent to put with them. Thanks for sharing your card at CAS Colours & Sketches.
I also appreciate your candid comments about the watercolor pencils! I've been wondering whether I really need yet another coloring medium...
Posted by: Patricia H | August 13, 2018 at 17:02
This is a beautiful card and you did a great job with the watercolor pencils. WC pencils by their nature won't blend like regular color pencils since they have no oil or wax in them - they tend to be chalky. You may try pressing hard with two colors next to one another and blending with a paint brush or blender pen. They do take some getting used to. Thanks for joining us this week at CC&S!
Posted by: Jeanne K | August 13, 2018 at 23:40