Club Scrap Blog Hop - Hydrangeas

Hi there!  Welcome to the Hydrangeas blog hop! This month we're using Club Scrap's Hydrangeas collection.  I'm going to show you how I was inspired to use all things watercolor in my cards this month.

If you traveled here from Lisa's blog, then you are following the hop!  If you've lost your way or just want to see all the links in one place, head over to the Club Scrap Creates blog to see a list of all the talented bloggers participating today.

As now is my monthly routine, on the first of the month I created a mood board based on the theme and colors of the kit, and was really loving all of the beautiful examples of watercolors out there:

Follow Marya Kaszubinski's board Hydrangeas Mood Board - Club Scrap April Kit on Pinterest.

I knew I wanted to try to use one element of watercolors in each of my cards and while I had plenty of materials to work with, I focused on making four cards for upcoming events - Mother's Day and birthdays.  I used papers, embellishments and stamps from the Club Scrap kit and the instructions Tricia provided for the Assembly Line Card Making for February's kit, Big Deal.

I first tried out all of my watercolors on a test swatch to see what I was working with.  I'm now storing this is my handy-dandy notebook that we made at Retreat in 2013:

Then I got off to work assembling cards and using my traditional watercolors, my watercolor crayons, and my watercolor pencils.  So many mediums to choose from!

For my first card, I stamped the chevron from the Art Nouveau stamp set multiple times across watercolor paper.  I then colored in the spaces using watercolor crayons and a paint brush.  Instead of coloring directly on the paper, I rubbed the crayon on a non-stick surface and used a wet brush to pick up the paint from there.  I also made a mottled background with the same colors by painting with the watercolor crayon, then going back over with clean water.

I also cut out the "Happy Birthday" sentiment on my electronic die cutter machine in the same font that matches this month's kit.  I love how happy this card turned out!

For my second card, I used the print with the embossed flowers and colored these in with watercolor pencils.  I colored directly onto the paper, then used water and a brush to spread the color around.  To finish the card off, I took a waterbrush and the pencils I used to color the images in and flicked the color from the end of the pencils onto the paper.  I love the little splatters this creates!

For this card, I knew I wanted to color in this wonderful hydrangea image from the Borders and Backgrounds stamp set.  I first tried to stamp the image and then color it in with watercolors, but that covered up the stamped lines too much.  Instead, I took two pieces of watercolor paper and used purple and green to cover the whole piece, and once dried, I stamped over these with India Ink.  I then cut out the image and adhered with flat and dimensional adhesive.

I also used a special technique to get this variegated look to the colors.  Once you have put down your watercolor, make sure the paint is still pretty wet.  Then flick or drop alcohol onto the wet paper, and the water will react and move away, leaving some of the color behind.  It's science!  (And pretty cool!)

Finally, for my last card, I created an ombre background using my watercolor crayons and I cut another sentiment out of the same font.  (Did you know that on the first of the month, Club Scrap posts all the details of the kit, including a link to the font used?  Go check some out here!)  I left this sentiment plain, and I really like the stark contrast of the white against the springy ombre.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope you drag out your watercolors (because I know you all have these in your stash.  Maybe even several sets...) and try to add some colorful elements in your cards, layouts, and projects.  And even though today is the last day of April, be sure to post your watercolor creations in Pam's challenge thread over at the Coffeehouse - hope to see you there!

Now head on over to Annette Dragon's to see what she has to share this month.  Come back in May when we're getting comfy with Club Scrap's Dungarees collection!

Supplies // Paper: Club Scrap Hydrangeas, Watercolor Paper/ Inks: Club Scrap Earth and Amethyst ink, White Pigment, India Ink/ Embellishments: Tags from Club Scrap Hydrangeas Kit, We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy baker's twine (secondary colors)/ Stamps: Hydrangeas Borders and Backgrounds, Hydrangeas Art Nouveau, WOW Spring 2013/ Tools: Watercolors, watercolor crayons, watercolor pencils, corner chomper, Ranger non-stick craft mat