Rustic Watercolor on Die Cuts

*Compensated affiliate links used where possible at zero cost to you. No posts are ever sponsored or paid.*

I spent a little time with the old Daniel Smiths this weekend on a few projects. That always means relaxation, honestly. Watercolor is just so relaxing, no matter how complicated or simple the method.

For this card, I kept it super simple, because the floral die cuts do most of the work - they are layering coneflower dies with tons of detail, including a beautiful shadow layer of petals. I chose to paint this layer sepia for a few reasons. One - everything in my yard is struggling right now with the heat, and I noticed on a few plants with flowers that they darkened towards the bottom. So painting them darker adds dimension but is also realistic for the dog days!

The top of the flower comes in two pieces - the flower center has a scored detail that I ended up highlighting with a white gel pen after it dried. 

The little bee is so sweet! The wings I cut out of vellum, and the other two pieces are watercolored.

I used this die for the background, and splattered that with white paint and gold ink, and added the sentiment from this die.

Like this post? Never miss a post by following me!

I guess I was in a die cutting mood, because this apple is adorable! I ink blended poppy, mushroom and sprout inks on buttercup cardstock for the base of the apple - and SQUEE - look at these dimensional seed stickers! I used the same background die and stamped this background stamp from the bundle with the background die in buttercup over the sentiment on the banner die cut. PS there's SUCH a cute layering basket in this same bundle.

Friendly Florals Bundle [ C&9 ] Honey Comb Quilt Top Dies Bundle [ C&9 ] Apple Orchard Bundle [ C&9 ] Freshly Picked Bundle [ C&9 ] Everyday Sayings Dies - Concord & 9th [ C&9 ] Daniel Smith Half Pan Watercolor Set... [ BLIC ] GM100 Gold & Pewter Glimmer Metallic... [ HA ] Sakura Gelly Roll Opaque White Pens -... [ BLIC ] Buttercup Cardstock - Concord & 9th [ C&9 ] Mushroom Ink Pad - Concord & 9th [ C&9 ] Poppy Ink Pad - Concord & 9th [ C&9 ] Sprout Ink Pad - Concord & 9th [ C&9 ] Buttercup Ink Pad - Concord & 9th [ C&9 ] Floral Glass Craft Mat — Glassboard... [ GLS ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | ELH ] Scor-Buddy Mini Scoring Board 9x7.5 -... [ ELH ] MIS-T Rulers [ MSP ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Understand Blue Bundles Specials for... [ CTC ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH ] Storage Envelopes, Medium 25pk,... [ ELH ] CheckOutStore Stamp & Die Clear... [ CHC ] Extra Large -50 pk, Avery Elle Stamp... [ ELH ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

How's that for some wholesome fun? Makes me feel like fall is coming, even if it doesn't seem that way.

Hope your day is off to a good start!

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES
20% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE.
15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
10% off at Sweet Sentiment with code UNDERSTANDBLUE
10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10
5% off at LBC here with code LYDIA5
Arkon Mounts - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

A Fresh Take on the One Sheet Wonder

*Compensated affiliate links used where possible at zero cost to you. No posts are ever sponsored or paid.*

Remember One Sheet Wonders? This used to be ALL the rage in the late 1900s. You would stamp a full 12x12 sheet of cardstock and do ink blending (with SPONGES, like ANIMALS in the time before blending brushes) and then there were all these different patterns - (there's a whole gallery of them here -both templates and examples) - that you would use to cut them up and make them into cards. 

The concept was that you would use EVERY BIT of the paper. It was a very efficient way to make a BUNCH of cards for swaps, which were also a big deal then. This was in the time before personal die cutting, so this was all done with a paper trimmer, so lots of straight lines in these patterns.

Nearly every time I make a background and use dies, I do a modified version of a One Sheet Wonder, because with backgrounds you almost always at least get a twofer. Today I got a threefer, in this updated, modern version of a OSW. 

To start with, I used this big floral background stamp with white ink and white embossing powder on cold press watercolor paper - a 5x7 sheet. After embossing, I sprinkled green and magenta watercolor powders all over it, and used my fine mister to activate the powder. The more water you use, the more the colors mix, so I like the fine mister for this job, because these are multi-colored powders and I wanted the different colors to all show. 

I let that air dry, and when it was dry I used my circle infinity dies to cut three circles out of this background. In the openings, I used the fall glitter paper with this leaf die to decorate them. I used the holiday glitter paper and this thanks die to finish the card.

Like this post? Never miss a post by following me!

I took those circles that I cut and I arranged them on a stitched background I created with this cover die. I used the darker fall glitter paper and the same thanks die to finish this card. 

Now because the watercolor paper was 5x7, there was excess I had to cut off after die cutting the first panel, so, in true OSW style, I used those strips for a third card. It captured the very edge of the stamped pattern. I used the paper from this assortment for the card base, and the same thanks die with white cardstock to finish.

CURRENT COUPON CODES
20% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE.
15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
10% off at Sweet Sentiment with code UNDERSTANDBLUE
10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10
5% off at LBC here with code LYDIA5
Arkon Mounts - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

Crafty Meraki Monet's Garden stamp... [ CRF ] Olive Leaf Meraki Para-Dies | Crafty... [ CRF ] Crafty Meraki Pagoni Mania Background... [ CRF ] DI199 Nesting Circle Infinity Dies... [ HA ] Fabriano Artistico Enhanced... [ BLIC ] PS778 Glitter Paper Holiday Sparkle |... [ HA ] PS779 Glitter Paper Fall | Hero Arts [ HA ] Yana's Layered Script Sentiments... [ SPL ] Paper Artsy GREEN MAN Infusions... [ SSS ] Paper Artsy MAGENTA Infusions Colored... [ SSS ] Amazon.com : Stylist Sprayers Stylist... [ AMZUS ] Hero Arts WHITE EMBOSSING POWDER... [ SSS ] GKD Color Companions Ink Pad- White... [ GNK ] Floral Glass Craft Mat — Glassboard... [ GLS ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | ELH ] Scor-Buddy Mini Scoring Board 9x7.5 -... [ ELH ] MIS-T Rulers [ MSP ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Understand Blue Bundles Specials for... [ CTC ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH ] Storage Envelopes, Medium 25pk,... [ ELH ] CheckOutStore Stamp & Die Clear... [ CHC ] Extra Large -50 pk, Avery Elle Stamp... [ ELH ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

Think about any 6x6 background stamps you have as a platform for quickly making multiples, especially as the holidays approach.

If using powdered watercolor, I find detailed stamps like this work the best, because there's so much color variation in the powder. If using liquid watercolor or ink smooshing, try bold images!

Loveyameanitbye.