I used the colors of Fall leaves for my watercolor background. The added veins (or branches) in gold are reminiscent of trees. I used the Paper Smooches new Leaf Frame die to inlay the pieces, while stacking copies from the Blessings die to pop up the word.
Making the Card
1. Cut white cardstock 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches; fold in half for a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch card base. Cut brown cardstock 4 1/8 x 5 3/8 inches. Adhere to card base.
2. Cut watercolor paper 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 (this is 1/4 inch larger than the final version, leaving 1/8 inch around for tape - if you need more room for tape, adjust paper size accordingly). Tape to craft mat or other surface.
3. Place Leaf Frame face down in the area it will be cut (mine is offset towards the bottom right corner). Pencil a line outside where you would like the watercolor to go - leaving about 1/8 inch or so room; you will need to erase the line but it will be difficult, if not impossible, to do so if you watercolor over it. Put the die aside.
4. Add water to the area you would like to watercolor. Work in layers - starting light, letting the paper dry some, add more color, dry more, brighter color. Finally add some FineTec mica in Inka-Gold with a medium brush; this may not show much. Dry completely then use a fine tipped brush to add FineTec mica Arabic-Gold: make the lines look like leaf veins or branches. Optional: Splatter with brown watercolor and Arabic-Gold, bang brush against your finger with some paint on the brush - but not too wet. I recommend trying on scrap paper first.
5. Once watercolor has fully dried, die cut using Leaf Frame being careful not to lose any pieces. Adhere outside frame to card base as shown, careful to center in brown layer. Die cut brown paper with Leaf Frame. Adhere brown Leaf Frame inside watercolored outside frame. Adhere leaf pieces.
6. Die cut "Blessings" in center of watercolored inside frame piece (you may want to use a little temporary tape to hold the die in place as you die cut). Be sure to keep all the pieces. Adhere big piece with Blessings cut out of it to the card as shown. Temporarily piece in the word Blessings (do not adhere). Adhere small inside pieces (l, e, and g).
7. Die cut 4 or 5 copies of "Blessings" from brown cardstock. Layer these on top of one another to form a thick stack. Hint: to glue the dot on the i stack, first stick it to some temporary tape. Adhere the watercolored version to the top of the stack. Adhere in Blessings place on card.
8. Take the small piece where the "to you and yours" will go and use water and paper towel to blot off some of the color. Dry. Stamp "to you and yours" in small piece as shown with Timber Brown StazOn ink. Adhere as shown.
I made the following quick card with the leftover frame from the above card and a test run scrap, from which I cut another "Blessings" sentiment. I also added a few enamel dots.
Supplies
- Paper Smooches Dies: Blessings, Leaf Frame
- Paper Smooches Stamps: Fall Sampler
- Watercolor Paper: Arches Rough
- Painter's Tape
- Watercolor Paint: Winsor & Newton, FineTec Mica
- Cardstock: Brown
- StazOn Ink: Timber Brown
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