Saturday, August 13, 2016

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.

  Nina-Marie_Trapani_august2016 

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.

  Winnie and Walter Leading Lady Part Two_2

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.

Winnie and Walter Leading Lady Part Two_3

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.

Winnie and Walter Leading Lady Part Two_1

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.
Winnie and Walter Leading Lady Part Two_5
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!

w&w_30giftcard

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.

37 comments:

  1. Oh wow! I love these bright colours!!!! And these little birds are so cuteeee!!!

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  2. Nina Marie, this is so sweet! You're causing a little marker envy! xx
    =]

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  3. I love your watercoloring and drawing. What a pretty card with the big Prayers and the embossed words. Thanks for your tips. I need more practice with my watercoloring. TFS

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  4. So adorable Nina Marie! This set is one of my fav's of W&W, it's soooo cute. Love the watercoloring and the bright colors. Thanks for sharing and inspiring.

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  5. Such a perfect scene, so beautiful and bright!

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  6. A beautiful card as always Nina, these birds are adorable. Thanks for the great tutorial and two different water colouring methods you use. I have recently bought myself a small but decent set of WC. (I got Winsor & Newton's Cotsman set with 14 colours.) I can't wait to really get time to play with them. TFS!

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  7. Beautiful watercolor scene you created for your cute birds, awesome work!!

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  8. The bird's are adorable! Love the watercoloring!

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  9. I love the explanation of your watercolour style. It's a very cute card!

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  10. These birdies are
    adorable and lovely
    coloring!
    Carla from

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  11. What a gorgeous vibrant card! Love!

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  12. Hi Nina ~ This card is artfully stunning! I love the "loose" look of your watercoloring and find that maybe even I could do this if I follow your step-by-step instructions. You never cease to amaze me with your inspirational tutorials! Thanks so much for sharing and I hope you had an awesome weekend. ~HUGS~

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  13. Wow! I love how you have watercoloured this card. I've got this stamp set and Zigs so I am going to follow your instructions and see how it turns out. Thank you for sharing how you made this amazing card x

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  14. This is a really great card and I am going to try out adding some hand drawn features along with a stamp. Thanks for the idea and explantion as to the process!

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  15. Love the vibrant colors and hand drawn elements, FAB!

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  16. Loving the watercoloring, Nina! Its amazing, the way you create those watercolored cards! I have only tried it once, and I must admit, I would love trying it again!! :)

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  17. Another great tutorial, thanks Nina. Not sure if Im ready for my own tree yet but I love how you did the leaves.

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  18. These guys are way too cute and I love your hand drawn tree for them!

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  19. This card is so sweet!!! I LOVE it and Winnie and Walter:)

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  20. This is ont only beautiful but also very thoughtful card. Love it!

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  21. Such a pretty card and those birds are so darling!!!

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  22. Love those cute birds and the coloring is perfect.

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  23. Your artistic talents shine through on this cheerful card. Those leaves are so gorgeous.

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  24. Your artistic talents shine through on this cheerful card. Those leaves are so gorgeous.

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  25. The bright colors are very smile inducing!!! Anyone will feel (at the very lease) a little better!!

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  26. Love the cheeriness of this heartfelt sympathy-type card! Fun watercolor style too; thanks for letting us in on the how-to!

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  27. Really beautiful card, I love the gorgeous colours you used and the little birds are adorable!

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  28. This is stunning!! I love the painting that you did. You could leave off the sentiment and frame the birds!!

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  29. These little birds are so sweet. They are bound to make anyone feel a little bit better. It's nice to use brighter colors as well.

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  30. Your cute little birds look like Peeps! Also, I'm with you...the words "control" and "watercolor" don't have to be used in the same sentence. :-)

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  31. BEAUTIFUL card!!!
    LOVE how you built and coloured your scene around the birds - WOW!!! ... I confess that I still have a tight grip on my ruler, I think it will take a miracle for me to back off and let the water take control :)
    THANK YOU for sharing and INSPIRING!!!

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  32. oh my gosh, such cuties! the coloring is so vibrant and gorgeous

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