August Leading Lady Nina-Marie Trapani | Take Two

Our August Leading Lady, Nina-Marie Trapani, is back for her sensational second performance!  If you missed her smashing debut you must see it...CLICK HERE.  Today see how she adds a personal touch to create phenomenal projects!

Ladies and gentlemen, Nina-Marie....

Hi friends! Welcome back to my second Leading Lady post for Winnie and Walter! Today I will be sharing a card I created featuring hand drawn elements and loose watercoloring.

   

I think adding some of our own personal touches to our cards, really makes them stand out and add that "something special" to a design. I do this often by doing something as simple as adding in patterns to outline images, or more detailed like drawing in elements to build/finish off a scene... And this is what I did in today's card! I used a group of super cute birds from the LS Exclusives: So Tweet with Evelin T Designs stamp set from Winnie and Walter and both hand drew/watercolored the tree scene they are set in.

 

This may seem a bit daunting, especially if you don't feel comfortable drawing. But trust me, this really is forgiving, easy and FUN! The style of these birds from LS Exclusives: So Tweet with Evelin T Designs really lends to a more "loose" feel and doesn't require you to be super detailed with your drawing; the more "sketchy" your hand drawn elements are, the better! I started off this card by stamping the birds onto Strathmore Bristol paper in Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink (because this ink is waterproof and I will be watercoloring today). I then used a multiliner pen and sketched out some tree branches around the birds, making sure to keep an odd number to help balance out the design.

I then used my Zig Clean Color markers to watercolor everything in; I've got the colors broken down for you below so that you can reference the color combinations if you are interested.

• birds: Geranium Red, Wine Red, Blush, Sugared Almond Pink, Yellow, Ochre
• trees: Beige, Dark Brown, Light Green, Deep Green, Green
• sky: Shadow Mauve, Light Blue, Green Shadow

When coloring the tree leaves with my Zigs, I applied scribbles of color (one shade at a time) and then blended it out with my water and brush. I would repeat this with each color of green, drying between each layer of color, until the entire leaf cluster was finished. You'll also notice that the coloring on these images is a very artistic, free flowing style... or maybe you'd call it messy! :) I love the look of a looser watercoloring, where the color extends past the outlines of the stamped images. I've done this before with other cards and the finished result is always beautiful! This too is very easy to do and there are a couple ways you can achieve the results.

The most important part of this technique is allowing the water to move your colors wherever it wants. I know this can be a bit nervy for those of us that like to have more control over their coloring. But truly, this is what is going to give you the most natural looking results; if you try to "control" where it goes outside the lines by painting outside the lines intentionally, I find it never feels quite right. So the two methods I love most for loose watercoloring techniques are:

1. water then color: first spray areas of your image with water, before applying any color down. This will result in the color spreading as you drop it into the wet areas of your image. Depending on the type of watercolor medium you are using, this may be a bit tricker for some images. For the scene I was creating in this card, I skipped this method and used method two, but I wanted to mention this one because I use it and have had great results with it.
2. color then water: for this method I color my images (inside the lines) first, then take a spray bottle and apply water over my colored images to get the color moving. I usually start off pretty light with the initial sprays of water as you want to stop before your coloring starts to move too much... because then you risk it becoming muddy.

To finish off this card, I used The Big the Bold and the Comfort stamp and die sets from Winnie and Walter to create a sentiment that reads "Prayers, comfort and love". I think the bright, cheery colors paired with the heartfelt sentiment would be sure to lift up the spirits of the recipient. I painted the prayer die cut using the same red Zig markers that I used for the birds, which helped tie it all together in the design. I hope today's card has inspired you to try adding in some hand drawn elements of your own into your card designs... this really is a great way to stretch not only your stamp sets, but also your creative muscles!    

GIVEAWAY!

Before you go, I want to tell you that Shay was SUPER generous in allowing me to giveaway a $30 gift certificate to one of you, which can be used in the Winnie and Walter store! How cool is that?? BIG thank you to Shay for being so sweet!

To qualify for the giveaway, make sure you leave a comment on any of my Winnie and Walter blog posts (commenting on each Saturday post this month will count as extra chances to win the giveaway). After the last Leading Lady post at the end of the month, I'll draw a random winner from all the collective post comments.

   

PRODUCTS

If you are interested in any of the products used in this post, I have them all linked below. Affiliate links used when possible.

https://www.simonsaysstamp.com/product.aspx?id=344601	Winnie and Walter THE BIG THE BOLD AND COMFORT 6 x 8 Clear Stamps WW043	The Big, the Bold and Comfort Cutaways	Zig CLEAN COLOR 60 SET Real Brush RB6000AT60V	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker WINE RED RB6000AT024	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker LIGHT BLUE RB6000AT036
Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker LIGHT GREEN RB6000AT041	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker SURGARED ALMOND PINK RB6000AT200	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker GERANIUM RED RB6000AT029	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker YELLOW RB6000AT050	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker BEIGE RB6000AT072	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker BLUSH RB6000AT069
Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker GREEN SHADOW RB6000AT049	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker LIGHT GREEN RB6000AT041	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker DEEP GREEN RB6000AT044	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker GREEN RB6000AT040	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker SHADOW MAUVE RB6000AT303	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker DARK BROWN RB6000AT062
Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker OCHRE RB6000AT063	Canson XL WATERCOLOR PAPER	Simon Says Stamp Embossing Ink Pad CLEAR	Simon Says Stamp Premium Ink Pad INTENSE BLACK	Hand Stitched Nested Rectangles	*Neenah SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE
Tim Holtz DISTRESS SPRAYER Ranger 4 Ounces TDA47414

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