CTMH Technique Blog Hop - Thrilled About Thin Cuts

Welcome to the CTMH Technique Blog Hop, this month we are featuring different uses for Thin Cuts on your craft projects, my post is in line right after Catherine's blog.

I thought I'd start with a traditional use of a thin cut on a thank you card, I made a watercolor background and then layered on the "Thanks" thin cut.  The silver glitter paper is so pretty that I added a few extra circles to give the card a bit more pop.  I couldn't just throw away the negative space that was left behind so I used that on these cards and experimented with colors behind the cut-out for different effects.

Next up on the blog hop is Kirsten, hop on over to see what she has to share with us.

CTMH Technique Blog Hop - Wacky for Watercolor

Welcome to the CTMH Technique Blog Hop, this month we are featuring different watercolor techniques and my post is in line right after Catherine's blog.  I hosted a watercolor workshop recently and want to share a couple of different techniques that we used.

This first card uses the smooshing technique.  Before I got started with the watercolor, I used an archival black ink pad for the fish background.  (Normally you can ink right on top of the watercolor but I found that with the details in this stamp, it worked best to stamp first with a waterproof ink.) Next, cut a piece of a plastic page protector and dab on some different watercolors for the background; then spritz with just a little mist and smoosh it right on the card, move it around a bit to get your colors to blend nicely. Cut out the banner, stamp the title, pop it up with some foam tape and your card is ready to go.

Supplies used:

• Inks: Archival Black and Emerald
• Stamp set: B1535 Hooked on You
• Cricut cartridge: Flower Market (for title banner)
• Watercolor paints

The next card is an embossed resist birthday card.

For this card, emboss your watercolor paper then carefully slide the White Daisy ink cartridge across the raised part of the paper and apply embossing powder then heat set.  Now you can break out the watercolors to fill in the rest of the card spots, use a paper towel to wipe off any color that may sit on top of the embossed area.  Add a ribbon and title to finish the card off and send to a birthday recipient.

Thanks for stopping by, next up on the blog hop is Tonya, continue on to see what she has lined up to share with us.

Color Dare 196 - Congrats Card

Color Dare 196

For this week's Color Dare challenge, you get a sneak peek at one of the cards I am taking to convention for the card swap.  This will be my first convention with Close To My Heart and I'm getting pretty excited to see what fun techniques I'll learn there!

Here are the instructions for this card: 

• Artbooking Cricut Cartridge - cut the overlay on page 78 at 2.5" from watercolor paper and cover with watercolors to match the inks you'll be using on the flowers
• Use Springtime Wishes stamps and thin cuts to cut and stamp flowers and leaf, ink with Honey, Cotton Candy and Pear
• Back the overlay with Lagoon paper (I used some leftover Lagoon pattern paper I had from a retired paper packet) and mount on card front
• Layer on the flowers and leaf
• Stamp the title in Lagoon ink
• Add black epoxy bubbles for your accent color

Color Dare 194 - Bravo card

Color Dare 194

For this week's Color Dare challenge, I broke out the watercolors for this card that gets to show up again at a workshop I'm teaching in early June.

I started with a piece of watercolor paper cut to 3.75" x 5" and masked off the squares with some washi tape torn in half to give the squares a more jagged look.  I just eyeballed my sections, if you want to break out a ruler to get them more precise....go for it!

Then I gave the whole thing a quick "once over" with plain water and used the Sapphire blue on the top two rows and switched to Crystal Blue for the bottom half of the page. Go ahead and leave the washi tape on while it dries to keep it nice and flat.

Once the base is dry, remove the washi tape and mask the right side of the card with a piece of scrap paper.  Use the splatter technique with black ink on the left side of the card.  Once the whole piece is dry, stamp the title and mount the watercolor paper on a piece of Sapphire blue paper and mount on your card base.

Supplies used:

D1661 - Crazy Good stamp set

Watercolor paints, brushes and paper

Sapphire paper