Country Lane

Love, love, love this set by Sheena Douglass.  It's called Milestones and Moments.   I was inspired by this great card that my stampin' sister Trena had made for me when I retired in January.  It was a short-lived retirement; I'm back at work with a new company, and I needed a card for a colleague who was moving to a new job and this image seemed perfect.

I stamped in Versamark ink on confetti cream paper, and used detail black embossing powder.  I chose the off-white color to match the lattice-edged card base.  (Yes, sometimes I do think ahead, LOL!)  I used my watercolor crayons because this scenic image was just asking for a soft, flowing touch.  I like to emboss the image when I watercolor, because it creates little raised edges that keep the colors from bleeding too much.  When I use the water color crayons, I color along the edges and draw the pigment inward with a wet brush.  This gives you gradation of color without over-thinking it.  When you do trees, be sure to mix the greens for a more realistic look.

I layered the image on to a black mat, and adhered this to the card base.  I stamped the greeting in black and used a large oval punch and attached it with dimensionals.

For a finishing touch, I put tiny black rhinestones on the greeting and at the intersection of the lattice.

Hope it inspires you to try water coloring an image.