Peeking through the window on a Country Morning

A couple weeks ago I had a card class where we made 6 card--2 each of 3 different designs. One of the cards spotlighted a "new" technique for many of my customers. Watercoloring with Stampin' Up!'s Watercolor Wonder Crayons! I've had my watercolor crayons for awhile now, but for whatever reason hadn't showcased them at a class yet. Perhaps it was because I am not a watercoloring expert and the idea of teaching the technique sort of intimidated me. Somehow I got beyond that and started playing around with them. I have to say that using the watercolor crayons, Aqua Painters and our Watercolor Paper makes watercoloring a breeze! Here's my sample:

There are many ways to use the watercolor crayons, but the way I showed was by using them directly on the stamped image (using Staz-On ink). Draw fairly light lines of color along the edges of the objects you're coloring. Then take an Aqua Painter filled with water and simply blend the color towards the middle. The more you go over the crayon lines, the lighter the lines will become. If you feel it needs more color, you can always dip the aqua painter directly on the crayon and add more color that way.

Another technique that's featured on this card is the ruffled eyelet edging. Here's a close-up look at that:

Here are the steps to get that look: Punch the edge of a strip of card stock that is about twice as long as the layer you're planning to attach it to with the eyelet border punch. Take a bone folder and run it along both sides of the strip of paper, like you would to curl curly ribbon with scissors. This breaks the fibers of the card stock and makes the strip bendy. Then the fun begins! Simply bend the strip back and forth to make your ruffles. At my class, this is where I commented on the "art of being random". Hold your ruffled strip behind the layer you plan on attaching it to, to make sure you have it just like you want it. Then run a strip of Snail adhesive along the back of that layer and attach your eyelet ruffles, trimming excess. You'll then want to use Dimensional adhesive so that the ruffles don't get squished. I put a couple pieces right on the edge of the ruffle and then several more around the rest of the edges.

My friend, Genean, commented that this card looks like an old country farmhouse window and I think she's right. In case you were wondering, the stamped image I used was from the Country Morning hostess stamp set. If you're interested in trying some other "new" techniques, I have a Spring themed technique class coming up later this month--March 25 @ 7pm or March 26 @ noon. Check out the details on the Events Page of my website.

Happy Stampin!
Brenda Bromen