While I was at the Simon Says Stamp event called Create, I had a table of my Suzy's Watercolor Cards for people to paint. We used watercolor makers and the new Tim Holtz watercolor pencils. I had some, but hadn't ever used them. I found this true of most of the people there that were using them. No one knew how to use them or had even tried them out. So we all learned together and now I love them. Today I painted one of my Suzy's Spring Flower watercolor cards with them to show you and give you some tips. Here is the set of cards and they are still available at Simon. This has always been one of my favorite sets and I believe they are phasing out all of them!
Here is my card using the one on the left center. I also used the CZ Sisters Forever stamp set and matching dies from the last Beautiful Days release.
The first thing I did is paint the watercolor card. They are printed on Ranger Watercolor Paper which I love because it is pure white and holds up well to any color medium. I painted the flower with just four colors of the Tim Holtz Watercolor Pencils. I think they have a layer of wax over them when you first get them, so you have to use them a little before you get intense color. I like just touching my wet paintbrush to the tip of the pencil to get the color off and then paint with it. Some people liked coloring directly on the paper and then moving the color around with a wet brush. You can't apply them to wet paper, so you start with dry and then move them with water. Another way to use them is to sharpen them in a watercolor pan and then add water to the pieces and make a paint with it. This card was made with the first method which is my preference and is the most simple.
I did want more intense shadows (as usual), so I went in with colored pencils and added a few - only a few in the darkest areas. I then cut the flower out of the card. There is something about Ranger Watercolor Paper that is so easy to cut! I wish cardstock was that easy. I then die-cut an oval from a piece of A2 sized white cardstock using the SSS Stitched Oval Dies. I used a piece of 49 and Market Color Swatch Blossom paper behind the oval. I love this paper and have shown it in so many posts now! I then tucked the leaves of the flower under the oval and attached the flower with foam tape behind the top right corner for dimension.
I added two sentiments using the CZ Sisters Forever stamp set with matching dies from the Beautiful Days release. I stamped the smaller sentiment on a SSS Sentiment Label die. Both were stamped with Intense Black Ink. I attached them to the bottom right corner with foam tape behind them. I then attached some sequins around the flower and sentiments to complete the card.
I love this Spring Flowers set of watercolor cards as they are HUGE flowers and don't have sentiments. You can see the whole set painted here on this blog post on the SSS blog. Here is an image of them all colored together from that post.
Thanks for visiting today and I hope I have motivated you to pull out the Tim Holtz watercolor pencils and try them out! Suzy
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