MOXIE FAB: The Wonder of Watercolor Challenge

Hola friends!

Phew!  I’ve had a very productive weekend, and it feels so good!  I am officially caught up and have worked ahead enough that I finally had some time to just “play.”  I feel like I haven’t had much of a chance to just stamp for the sake of stamping lately, and I miss it . . . .  As much as I love all of my design teams, sometimes I just want to stamp what I want to stamp!  KWIM?!  So that’s just what I did!

Where does one go when one wants to stamp just for the sake of stamping?!  The Moxie Fab World, of course!  I adore, adore, ADORE Cath’s challenges and have missed playing along with her!  Her challenges always stretch me creatively and force me out of my little stamping bubble that I live in.  The Wonder of Watercolor Challenge was no exception!  I’m not a huge colorer . . . so I feared that I was going to hate whatever I created.  But I’m happy to report that this watercoloring thing is a freakin’ BLAST!  Here’s what I came up with for the challenge.

I’m sure you’re not surprised that I chose to work with a cityscape.  The image is from an A Muse Studio set that I got in January and hadn’t had a chance to ink up before now.  I stamped it in VersaMark on water color paper, and then heat embossed it using Charcoal embossing powder.  I didn’t own any watercolor pencils, so off to Michael’s I went with my 40% off coupon.  I happened to have one of those Tim Holtz water pens in my stash - it worked like a dream!  I honestly had no idea what I was doing, but I just dove right in.  I chose three colors of blue water color pencils, and colored them directly onto the watercolor paper, darker to lighter.  I masked off the moon and colored the pencils around the mask.  I then filled up the water color pen and just started painting the water onto the penciled areas.  OH MY GOSH – it’s like magic when that water starts blending those colors together!!  You seriously need to try this!  I feel like this technique is relatively idiot proof and has the potential for amazingly beautiful results!  There’s still time for you to play along, so I hope you give it a try.  You can find the challenge HERE.

I wanted the focal image to pop and still retain a clean and simple/graphic look.  So I created a panel with my Silhouette that included a cutout for the image to peek through.  The sentiment was stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed with the same Charcoal EP.  I adhered a few rhinestones for stars, mounted the image panel onto a charcoal card base, and called it good!  What do you think?  I’m pretty stinkin’ happy with the results and will most definitely be doing this watercolor thing again!  Thanks for challenging me (as always), Cath!

That’s it for me today, friends.  I’m off to join my Women Who Wine group today – it’s Cinco de Mayo, so I think we’ll be tasting wines of Mexico . . . hmmmmm.  It ought to be interesting.  LOL  Hope you have some lovely Sunday plans.  Thanks so much for stopping by today – you all make my heart smile.




PRODUCTS USED:
STAMPS:  Love Is In the Air (A Muse Studio), Square Sayings (Simon Says Stamps)
INK:  VersaMark (Tsukineko)
PAPER:  Steel Gray CS (My Favorite Things), Watercolor Paper (Strathmore), White OP CS (Bazzill Basics Paper)
OTHER:  Rhinestones (Stampin’ Up!), Silhouette Cameo Electronic Die Cutting Machine (Silhouette America), Watercolor Pencils (Derwent), Watercolor Pen (Ranger), Charcoal Embossing Powder (Zing/American Crafts)