Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Guest Designer Four Season Challenge

Hi friends and welcome to the Spring Challenge for Four Seasons Challenge and I am honored to be the guest designer!
When I think of Spring, I think of Easter and decided to go with my most comfortable medium, watercoloring. I started with a digital stamp from Whimsy Stamps called a Cup Full of Happiness:
Isn't this image just so cute? I resized 2 images and printed it through my Brother Laser Printer using Ranger Tim Holtz Watercolor Paper. I almost always color more than 1. Why? My first image is my practice image for colors and also gets my "hand" warmed up. When I color the second one, I am usually more comfortable with the colors and style. 99% of the time I use both images for cards in some manner:

I used my favorite watercolor pan palettes (usually of a mix of the 2): The Stamp Market 24 Pan Color Crush Palette and Altenew Watercolor 24 Pan Set:
I always use my Silver Brushes - Black Velvet usually the size 8 and sometimes the 6. The 8 holds more water and although larger it is actually easier for watercoloring. Also, I always try to leave white: if you notice the carrots those white areas are "sparkles" - I very seldom go back with a white gelly roll pen, but leave the white in the design while coloring.
The cups were fun! Once the watercoloring was dry I masked off all around the cups just with post it notes. Then I used this wonderful stencil from A Colorful Life Designs called Bunny Garden Stencil to ink blend parts of the design with some Ranger Distress Ink:
I used Ranger's Detail Blending Tools to get into the small areas:
The sentiments come from 2 different sets. I thought about the sentiments for a long time...what sentiment fits a bunny staring at a cupful of carrots? I was happy with the 2 I finally choose. The first, a simple "love you" come from this Hero Arts/Gina K collaboration stamp set called Friendship Blooms. I love this font and have used both the floral and sentiments many times:

The second sentiment came from Spellbinder's Sunday Drive All-Occasion Clear Stamp Set from Liberty Collection (longest name ever!):
I want to thank the folks at the Four Season Challenge for inviting me to be the guest designer and I hope you enjoyed my cards! Come play along with the challenge...they are always fun!  
*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

8 comments:

  1. OH WOW these are both just fabulous Anita! Thanks for all the awesome details and inspiration! We are thrilled to have had you guest design with us! Great job and have a wonderful week ahead!

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    1. Thank you so much, Darlene. A sheer pleasure❤️

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  2. These are just the cutest!! Beautiful job of water coloring too, it always intimidates me so was nice to read about your technique!! I need all the help I can get lol! Thank you for guest designing for our challenge at Four Seasons!

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    1. Thank YOU, Diane for allowing me to guest design. Always a pleasure❤️

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  3. A fabulously watercolored card. I love the stencil that you used too. So dadgummed cute. [Bunny]

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    1. Thank you so much, Bunny! I appreciate your kind comments ❤️

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  4. I love both your colour ways, what a clever card and gorgeous digi stamp. Thanks for explaining your process, I would love to be better at watercolouring. Congrats on your guest designer spot. Your card is excellent xx

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  5. Thank you so much, HilaryJane. What nice comments❤️

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