Beautiful Day Watercolor Cards by Mischelle Smith

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My very first Altenew stamps arrived the other day and I couldn't wait to play!  {So far ... I haven't gotten past the first set ... smiles}.  I also ordered some of the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens so I could try coloring my new Altenew images like Marika at Me and Minime Crafting ~ Marika also has out some AWESOME YOUtube videos ... check her out if you are looking to be inspired!

 
So for this card I'm using the Beautiful Day Stamp Set from Altenew ... and I LOVE it!  I decided to try no-line watercoloring ... which I haven't been successful at in the past ... ???!  I should have snapped some of my first images I colored with the Zig Pens ... I had watched many videos on these pens before I played with mine and decided to do what they did.  It didn't work for me.  At all.  So, I decided to just try coloring the image the way I would.  Now, there is a learning curve with these but it didn't take long until things started to click for me.

Top Row all stamped with Sweet Leaf Ink.  Bottom Row all stamped with Glacier Ink.

I had so much fun coloring these images!  To begin, I stamped the outline of the flower in my CTMH Glacier Blue ink.  I stamped the leaf in CTMH Sweet Leaf.  However, I stamped more flowers later and then also leaves ... all in Glacier.  It took me awhile to figure out why the ink seemed to be reading through on my leaves ... and then it hit me.  Even though the Glacier is pretty soft ... it read through on my leaves ... good to know!


I also had a mishap card.  This poor card ... so many things went wrong.  First I set it down in Tombow Mono Glue which meant I changed the card design.  Then I thought I'd try some Wink of Stella on it ... UGH!



My poor card.

If only they all looked like this!  {smiles}

Speaking of my cards ... I should mention that this original card design was inspired by Jennifer McGuire ... I watched all of her Zig Clean Color Videos ... and more ... and saw her do this darling design.  I couldn't wait to CASE it!

Another note on this card ... I used my GOLD Signo Pen to highlight the flower center and on some of the leaves ... just to bring in the gold embossing on the sentiment ... LOVED it!  It works beautifully with these pens!


 So now that I'm all over the place ... I thought I'd share what I made first with this stamp set.

 
Swatches.  Lots of them.  And some I even doodled on to try out my pens with them.


I needed to try all of the color combinations I could to see what my inks and stamps could do together.


Some I LOVED ... and some were awful.  The page above is done with Distress Inks ... obviously ... they aren't designed for detail work.  That's what I needed to know though ... who played well together ... and who didn't.


I also bought the matching die set which made this project even more FUN!  {for reals ... I had SO much fun making these!}  I even tried some color combo's twice {OOPS} so I used these images to help me while I was water coloring.  These helped me figure out where to put highlights and shadows.  HUGE help!



And then storage.  I wanted to store the set together, with its dies.  So I cautiously cut it apart into 2 pieces.


This was nerve wracking!  LOL!  I cut down the backing cardstock that came with the stamps and dies and made them all fit inside one of my 6x6 storage pockets from CTMH.  You can also see that I write the number of dies on the backing page so I know exactly how many go in there.  These little guys are too expensive to misplace!



Now, I also use inexpensive sleeves from Avery Elle, but they are to insecure for me to store all of this.  And I LOVE that I can 'lock' the sleeve closed ... some of those 'tuck-in-sleeves' don't stay tucked in ... don't we know.

 
Now I have everything in one place and I can breathe easier knowing that my investments are protected!  SOOOOO worth it to me ... and now so much easier to store!

I know this post is super long ... but just a couple more things.

I was going to order my Clean Color Pens from Joann when they were on sale.  I could get the 36 pack for just under $80-some dollars.  Then I found this 60 pack on Amazon for LESS THAN Joann's sale price on a set of 36 pens!  The only thing I wish now is that I would have ordered the 80 pack here.  That's seriously how much I'm LOVING these pens!  You can buy each pen individually as well ... so I can pick up what I don't have.  Also, these are water-based and non-refillable.  Good to know.

I also picked up these Pentel Aquash Water Brushes to use with my Clean Color Pens and I LOVE them!  By far the best water brushes I now own!

These are the Stamp Storage Envelopes I use.  I store my stamps in these two storage cases ... Large Organizer and the My Acrylix Organizer.   LOVE them!

I would TOTALLY recommend the Glacier Blue Ink Pad when using with the Blue/Teal family of Clean Color Markers and also the Sweet Leaf Ink Pad for the Yellow Green family of colors.

I used Clean Color Markers 36, 42, 33, 53, 46 and 43 to make these cards.

I also lucked out and found my Altenew at a store having a sale!  The Craft Shack was AWESOME to work with and I had my product so stinking fast!  Sad for me ... the Peony Bouquet dies are on back order EVERYWHERE.  {major sad face}  I will order those as soon as someone gets them in stock!

While I was at The Craft Shack I also picked up my first set of Blue Prints Dies from My Favorite Things ... Set #1.  OMGOSH!  LOOOOOVE!   My only regret is that I didn't order more ... or should I say more yet?!  They have so many to love!

WHEW!  What I long post!  And all of this to enter this card into the Simon Says Stamp Challenges!  Red, White and/or Blue and Anything Goes ... LOVE that one especially!

And that ... is a wrap!  I hope you found something here today that inspired you!

Mischelle