When I saw this card, I was looking forward to making it, mostly because it uses watercoloring and I thought that would be a fun technique and the pretty pinks are way girlie for me. Plus the Under My Umbrella bundle is just SO spring! I’m from New Hampshire, April Showers Bring May Flowers is something we’re used to saying. April is mud season, so compared to THAT this card is super cute. Boots and an umbrella are a must to survive mud season. Now that I live in Florida, it’s more about rainy season in June. Either way can you resist this adorable umbrella and girly flowers?
The design came straight from the Stampin’ Up! 2020 Jan – June Mini Catalog for this one. The only real change I made is the size of the card. Except as I was just uploading this picture, I noticed they used clear sequins! I missed those. Drat. They’re so cute!
Cutting Dimensions
- Card base:Ā 8.5ā³h x 5.5ā³w piece of Seaside Spray Cardstock folded to make a 4.25ā³w x 5.5ā³h. My project picture does not do SeasidecSpray justice. It is a really beautiful color that is retiring June 2021.
- Watercolor Paper:Ā 5.25ā³h x 3.75ā³w
- Seafoam Green Tag:Ā 1.5ā³ h x 1.5ā³ w use the Tailored Tag Punch to make the banner triangle.
- Umbrella & Flowers:Ā stamp the umbrella, flowers and umbrella handle with Stazon Ink on scrap watercolor paper. Use the Umbrella Builder Punch to pop out the Umbrella Handle and then use your scissors to fussy cut the rest. I recommend painting before cutting.
How to Watercolor
There are four main tools needed for successful watercoloring:
- Stampin’ Up! Watercolor Paper (and yes, it’s better than just any old watercolor paper)
- Stazon Ink Pad – this prevents the outline from bleeding while you paint
- Aqua Painters – these are a paint brush- like tool with a water reservoir built right in!
- and then the Ink Pad(s) of your choice. What colors do you want to use?
- Affix your Stamp to an acrylic block,
- Apply some Stazon Ink and stamp your image on the watercolor paper.
- Next, dab a little ink from the Stampin’ Ink Pad onto an acrylic block and
- Use the wet Aqua Painter to dilute the ink. Then paint.
I usually start with the area I want darkest first and work outward for some shading. Be careful not to add too much water!
Putting it All Together
Cut the paper as indicated. Using Stazon ink, stamp the umbrella and flowers on Watercolor Paper and stamp the umbrella handle on Basic Grey Cardstock. Watercolor the umbrella with the Rococo Rose ink. Watercolor the background using Seaside Spray and Basic Grey Ink. Watercolor the flowers using Grapefruit Grove, Petal Pink and Rococo Rose and the leaves in Garden Green. With the Umbrella Builder Punch punch out the umbrella and handle. Then use the Paper Snips or other scissors to fussy cut out the flowers.
Once the background is dry, add some Seaside Spray water drops from the Stamp Set and adhere it to the Seaside Spray cardbase. Then adhere the Umbrella handle using Snail Adhesive and the Umbrella using Dimensionals. Next arrange the flowers to your liking and affix to card. Swipe the Wink of Stella over the flowers to add a little sparkle.
Lastly, stamp the sentiment to the Soft Seafoam tag with Garden Green ink and affix the tag to the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals. And that’s it!
Products Used
