Watercolor Pencils Tips

Happy Monday!  Today I have a housewarming card that I made for my niece.  What I love about this the Flying Home stamp set is that it can be used for a lot of different purposes.  In addition to the usual thank you and birthday, think Mother's Day, new baby, housewarming, moving, etc.  In this case, my niece moved into an apartment - and the image of the three birdhouses works well.

I colored this with watercolor pencils and blender pens - one of my favorite ways to color.

Pencils allow me to control the color, at least for the most part.  I did accidentally color outside the lines on the middle house - oops.

Some tips for using the pencils:

Use a GOOD pencil sharpener and keep the tips sharp

Use a light touch with the blender pen

If you want a darker tone use a heavier pressure with the pencil

Shade and combine colors before using the blender pens as much as possible - the pen adds a bit of a coating to the paper that can be hard to color over

Blend light into dark - if you blend into the light area you may end up getting the light area too dark

Add a little shadow under areas where there should be shadow to give depth (see the houses just under the roofs)

To finish the card I made a banner with the sentiment from "Beautiful Bouquet" and stapled it with some ribbon underneath.  It has taken me awhile to like the "stapled to the card" look, but I think it can add a casual, fun feel to a card.  I used some colored staples here.  I'm not sure I would use regular staples - that's a little TOO casual for me!


I hope you enjoyed this card today.  I have a list of some of the supplies with links to my Stampin' Up! website below.  If you order please use Hostess code 6924WDJ - valid through March 28.  (If you order $150 of products-before tax and shipping-do not use the code so YOU get the hostess benefits.)

And a $50 order qualifies you to earn a FREE product from the Sale-A-Bration catalog!  Details here.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Flying Home, Stampin' Up! Beautiful Bouquet
Ink: Basic Black, Stampin' Up! Watercolor Pencils 
Tools: Blender Pens
Accessories: Calypso Coral Ombre Ribbon

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