Two Quick Cards Using Blender Pens to "Watercolor"

I have two very quick cards for you today!  They use only two colors - Old Olive and Poppy Parade - and Black.  The inspiration for these was the CAS Challenge this week at Splitcoaststampers.  Jenn gave the challenge to use only two colors, your favorite primary and favorite secondary color plus any neutrals.  To make these cards I used a favorite technique of mine which is "watercoloring" using blender pens.  It is great for small areas, and gives you a bit more control than traditional watercolor.

 Although I say I have no favorite color because picking one is like picking your favorite child, I also say green is the perfect color because it is nature's neutral.  Every single color has a shade of green that it looks great with!  Name one flower that doesn't look good with it's green leaves....or a blue sky that doesn't look great with green.  So picking green was easy.  For my primary, I tend to lean more towards pinks and reds so I picked red.

Card One - top

I stamped the row of poppies from Painted Poppies one right next to the other along the bottom of a top folding A2 card.  I used Whisper White Thick since I wanted to do light watercoloring.  You could also use Shimmery White, but I like the WW Thick for this.

I stamped the foliage with the splatter stamp in Old Olive, stamping off to get different shades.  Using my Poppy Parade marker I colored on an acrylic block and used that as my "palette" for watercoloring the flowers with a blender pen.  This method gives a very light watercolor that doesn't pill up the thick cardstock.  (You can also use the method below if you don't have markers.)

Final step was to stamp the sentiment from Band Together, a sentiment set I find incredibly useful!  If you follow my blog you'll notice I use it A LOT!

Card Two - bottom

Even easier!  Using an acrylic block and Old Olive, I stamped a square on an A2 card front.

I stamped my flowers on a separate piece of Whisper White Thick and colored using a blender pen and the ink from the Poppy Parade stamp pad. You can either squeeze the lid to the stamp pad to get ink onto it, or place a few drops of ink from a reinker onto the lid.

I then used the dies to cut out the poppies.  I started to fussy cut the flowers when I remembered I had dies for this set!  I had the vellum spray leftover from another project so I added it.  It is cut using Forever Flourishing dies, another set that is invaluable!

Both these cards are super quick to make.  In fact, if you take too long to do the "watercoloring" they lose that soft, loose appeal!

 

Place any order with me between now and September 30 and use Hostess code EZAMBBNF and I will send you a free copy of the new Holiday Mini catalog. 

 
Place a $100 order with me, use Hostess Code EZAMBBNF and I will also send you a PDF of instructions to make all four cards of my cards from September 7 and 10 (two dog and two cat cards), along with suggestions on how to add variety!  If your order is $150 or more DO NOT use the code and you will receive the Hostess Benefits - and I will send you the PDF!

 
 Products used today:

• Stamps and dies: Painted Poppies/Painted Labels Bundle,  
• Stamps: Band Together
• Dies: Forever Flourishing
  
• Paper: Whisper White Thick, Vellum
  
• Ink: Poppy Parade, Old Olive, Stazon Black
  
• Accessories: Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine, Brights Stampin' Writes Markers, Acrylic Block D, Blender Pens, 
  

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