Living My Dream: Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Words Blog Hop!!!

Today is the first of a two day blog hop to celebrate the new Simon Says Stamp Release called Encouraging Words. It is full of fun new stamps, dies, stencils, sequins, and a new set of watercolor cards! Here is my card set for this release - it is called Fruity Puns:

There are nine cards in this set each printed on Ranger watercolor paper. They are 5.5" x 4.25" so they fit perfectly on a card front. All you have to do is watercolor them or color them with any coloring medium you prefer. They are great for taking on trips or letting your kids help you with! My kids are always involved in my sets as they critique them for me and I usually have to change a few!

I've painted all nine of these images with watercolors to give you an idea of how they will look once they are colored. I ended up doing two versions of a couple of them. They are all nine painted with my Daniel Smith watercolors. I used my Kaiser Craft glitter pens and a white Uniball marker to add details and shading to each. I finished them by attaching them to a card front and adding Tonic Nuvo Drops (colors are listed in the supply list) and Pretty Pink Posh sequins (listed in the supply list). After each of these images, I'm going to give you a few tips that you can use when painting them. So let's get started as there are a lot of images!

apple close up

Tips:

When painting the apples, add more than one color to each to create more depth and interest (on the red apple I added some yellow to the center of it
Wet the fruit first and then drop in the color (wet on wet technique); add additional layers of dry paint to build up colors
Press a napkin or paper towel onto the image while it is still wet to remove some of the water and color and to give it some texture and light and dark spots
Use a gray Copic marker (I use N2 a light Natural gray) to add shadows to the letters so they pop more
Use sequins in groups of three

watermelon 2

watermelon 2 close up

Tips:

Use a watercolor marker to add shadows behind the letters in the same color as the background so it is subtle.
Use Pretty Pink Posh droplets to appear like water drops on fruit.
Use Tonic Nuvo Drops to create black and white spots of texture on fruit (like on the watermelon seeds)

watermelon 1

watermelon 1 close up

Tips:

Use Tonic Nuvo Drops in clear to make things dimensional on the fruits such as the seeds or part of the title
Use a Copic marker (in green here) to add additional shading to your watercolored image or behind the letters as shadows
Splatter paint on the background in the same color you used on the background (see the green splatters)

peach

peach close up

Tips:

Once the entire image is dry, splatter paint on it (green splatters on the letters, background, and peach)
Build up layers on the background - start with a wet on wet technique and then add another layer on just part of the top with a dry brush
Use sequins the same color as the fruit for subtle interest

fruit mix 1

fruit mix 1 close up

Tips:

On this version, I wasn't sure I liked the background painted so I tried another version after this one - BUT, for the background, use a wet on wet technique and drop in several of the colors you used on the images and let them blend
Use a white Uniball and white Tonic Nuvo Drops to add details to images - white really pops on the colors

fruit mix 2

fruit mix 2 close up

Tips:

On this image, I left the background pure white so the images really pop
Use Tonic Nuvo Drops in white and black to add details to the images (black seeds on the watermelon and seeds on the strawberry); use a white Uniball to add smaller more subtle spots on the fruit (kiwi seeds)

grapes

grapes close up

Tips:

Use glitter pens to add shading - I used a purple one to color in-between the grapes so they look darker than the grapes
Use glitter pens and a white Uniball to add little dots on fruits just for visual interest (as I did on each grape)
If you want to splatter more than one color on the background as I did here with the green at the top and the purple at the bottom, instead of shaking the paintbrush over the image, just dip a wet paintbrush onto the background to form little droplets; works good when the background is slightly wet

banana berry

banana berry close uo

Tips:

To make a fruit look more realistic, add some light and dark colors to it as I did here on the banana; I started with a very light yellow wash, then built up a layer of darker yellow on the top and bottom; then added some brown on the very top and bottom
Use gray paint of marker to add shadows to the letters so they pop - I like this technique best when the background is white

orange

orange close up

Tips:

Add some glitter pen or marker to the openings in the letters
Use a white Uniball marker to add white lines to the orange pieces so they look more realistic
Use Tonic Nuvo Drops in the exact color of the background (light green here) so they are very subtle

pineapple

pineapple close up

Tips:

I spent the most time on this images of any of them by building up lots of layers of paint, glitter markers, and white Uniball on the pineapple
When you apply glitter or gel pen to an image, blot it with your finger or a napkin before it dries so it is lighter and blends better
Use glitter Tonic Nuvo drops to really take an image up a notch (these gold ones are the bomb - or very fine!)
Use multiple layers of multiple colors on the background

pear

pear close up

Tips:

When painting the background, try using multiple colors as I did here; I couldn't decide what color to make it, so I used three different ones just randomly around the image
Splatter a light color paint on a dark area so the droplets really pop (yellow on the green), but use the paint very thick with less water so it is more opaque

Ok, now back to the business of the blog hop! Next on the hop is Sarah Moerman . Leave a comment on each blog to be eligible to win a $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp. They will pick the winners and announce them on their blog on Tuesday, so just email them to get your prize! Have fun on the hop and don't forget this a two day deal - so come back again to the Simon Blog to hop again! Thanks so much for visiting! Suzy

PS: I have a blog series called "one stamp, five ways" where I use one stamp on five projects. Well, this week, I will be showing one of the new Simon stencils used in five ways ("one stencil, five ways"), so please come back to visit! You can get email notifications when I post by clicking on the link on the top left of my blog!

LinkDeli.com

Comments

Gorgeous fruit cards - they all look so juicy and refreshing. My favourite is the watermelon one with that wonderful blue background!

Posted by: Bonnie Eng | August 04, 2017 at 05:19 AM

The color and detail on the fruit looking awesome.

Posted by: Stephanie Wexler | August 04, 2017 at 05:48 AM

oh my gosh these are fantastic! It looks like art work that should be hanging in a kitchen!

Posted by: Mindy Eggen | August 04, 2017 at 06:15 AM

Oh goodness, Suzy! You did a fantastic job on these fruit cards. You are mega talented. Thnk you for sharing all the tips and details of what you did to make these shine. I like the texture tips and white dots. Thanks for all the time and detail you add to your posts to make them so helpful for your readers! Have a great day. :)

Posted by: Jeanne | August 04, 2017 at 06:16 AM

Wowzers...awesome job on all your cards. Great display of fabulous fruit!

Posted by: Lynn Gauthier | August 04, 2017 at 06:19 AM

These are all so cute and fun! I love the heart in the word "my". Your coloring is always amazing. And I am looking forward to seeing the stencil, five ways! The Marilyn stencil is on my wish list...

Posted by: Becca Yahrling | August 04, 2017 at 06:24 AM

wow, your watercoloring is fabulous!

Posted by: Laura Greig | August 04, 2017 at 06:25 AM