Butterfly Reflections, Ink

Hi friends, Norine from The Velvet Lemon here, back again for a 2nd day in a row! Today I'm sharing a piece of home decor that I made using the Watercolor Bouquet Stencil from Altenew and some stamps from the Forever and Always stamp set, also from Altenew .  Oh and HEY!  Have you see the gorgeous April Mood Board that was posted back here ?  It's what I used to inspire the colors for this project! Ok, where to start.  So I laid the big part of the stencil onto the watercolor paper and then used my real brush pens to color in the openings, going section by section and lifting the stencil up between sections to wet the ink with a paint brush and move the color around a little, even dragging it out and away from the shape in some places.  For this first step I used the lighter colors of the coral and green. Then I let that air dry.  I mostly prefer air drying with watercolors because it's a nicer, more natural look than zapping it w...

Hey, hey BRI friends!  We're hopping today to celebrate the 4th Birthday of Altenew , one of our favorite stamping companies!  You should have arrived here from the Altenew blog , and we're glad you're here to share the excitement! There are prizes and inspiration and it's going to be FUN! With you today, is Norine from The Velvet Lemon  creating for Butterfly Reflections Ink  and I have some projects to share today, that I made using some recently released Altenew products .   First up, are these two cards created with the Mega Succulent stamp set .   I stamped the image onto water color paper using the MISTI , then turned on the music and sat and colored.   I used Faber Castell watercolor pencils so I could more easily control where the color would sit and then painted with a water brush .  I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of vellum, heat embossed with clear embossing powder to ensure that the ink wouldn't smudge...

Hi, hello!  Norine from The Velvet Lemon , here with you today!  I recently received a rather large order from the Butterfly Reflections store , and let me just say....it's going to be florals, florals, florals for the next little while!  (The words florals and happy are interchangeable in my vocabulary!) I love this technique of "hiding" the die cut word in the colored design.  It's harder to see and appreciate straight on in a photo, but the tactile aspect in real life is so cool!  I used the two gorgeous floral stamps in the Altenew Forever and Always stamp set (couldn't choose between, so...), along with sentiments from MFT - Lots of Hugs (Sending Handmade) , and Lawn Fawn - Happy Happy Happy (To You) to accompany the die cut word, also from MFT ! For this first card, I wanted a plainer effect, where only the letters stand out, (literally and figuratively, as it turns out) so I left the background plain as oatmeal, and just randomly co...

Hi everyone!   Norine here today, with a couple of simple Valentine's cards to share with you! I started by painting a wash of red watercolor paint on two sheets of watercolor paper.  I used the Gansai Tambi paints for some really rich, intense color that smoothly flows into a pale washed out color.   Once they were dry I could die cut them with the MFT's Peek-a-boo Striped Heart die , once with the heart positioned with the darkest color at the top and again with the darkest color towards the bottom.  Then I could push out the pieces from the one first card panel and replace them with the pieces from the second one.  And because I now had some leftover painted pieces that I'd removed from the first card, I decided to die cut the heart once again on a plain white piece of watercolor paper and add the stripes to that.  After all the pieces were in place and adhered to a card base, I die cut the word "happy" ( Concord & 9th...

Hey Crafters! I'm back after a week off to bring you this classy card! When I saw the Amazing You stamp set from Aletenew, I totally fell in love! And I immediately knew the first thing I wanted to do with these images. I broke out my Zig Clean Color Markers and went to work! I stamped the images on watercolor paper  in Antique Linen distress ink  so that I could do some no-line watercoloring techniques. I wanted to keep the main focus of the card pretty simple so that I could add some unique touches. After finishing the watercoloring, I chose one of the sentiments from the stamp set and heat embossed it in the lower right corner using Liquid Platinum embossing powder and Versamark Ink . I used the  My Favorite Things Wonky Stitch Rectangle Stax Die  to cut my card base and then also cut a kraft cardstock piece to serve as a matte for the top of the card base. I trimmed down the watercolor panel and then hunted around for some lace scraps that I...

Hey there! I can't believe we're already in July! Considering I spent most of June traveling, it was a little hard to get back into the swing of work and the daily grind. It was the end of my day off on July 4th before I finally felt like our house was back in a somewhat recognizable state of order. Unfortunately, along with our hectic schedule for several weeks in a row, my crafty mojo was out the window, too! But I took a short hiatus from creating, and it was just the respite I needed. The creative juices started flowing again this week. Do you ever over-complicate things? I do. All. The. Time. So, I've been spending a little bit of time thinking of some "template" type ideas that I can re-visit any time I need a quick and easy card to give. Send in the stripes! Folks, perhaps the easiest thing in the world is making a set of stripes, and then slapping a bold and cute sentiment on top for a focal point! This is a simple type of card, so this post will...

Happy Saturday! Today I'm sharing this card that was so therapeutic to create! I was watching a video that a fellow card maker did and she used this fantastic set of watercolor samples that are very inexpensive and a great way to try out some high quality watercolor paints and then decide which ones you'd like to invest in. Find the watercolor set here . For a cardmaker, this option is so economical because you don't really need to use much to make a beautiful looking watercolor masterpiece. I began by stamping my images from the Altenew Beautiful Day stamp set on to my favorite watercolor paper  in Versamark ink  and then  gold heat embossed them . I then used a small paintbrush and set off to coloring the images. The dots of watercolor on this sample sheet are very concentrated, so the color on the sheet is quite bolder than what will actually appear on your paper when you add the water to it. I recommend trying out these paints on a scratch piece of watercolor...

Hello there! It's Saturday! Or as my niece calls it, "Party Day!" I'm back with another installment of yet another WPlus 9 stamp set. When this stamp set was released, I just shook my head and thought, "How did she do it...AGAIN?!" I think I mentioned this in my last blog post, but I think I own every floral stamp set that Dawn has produced. Her images are some of my favorites to use for no-line watercolor, and so I decided to bring in that technique for this card. My husband recently went out of town for his friend's wedding and was gone for almost the entire weekend. To keep from going crazy, I decided I'd tackle the Kind Soul stamp set and get out my distress inks ! I knew this process would probably take a while, but since it's more a form of therapy than anything else, I didn't mind! I first stamped the floral image on Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Paper  in a light colored ink. I then selected Shaded Lilac, Worn Lipstick, a...