{Spotlight Project} Maria Spotlights Working with a Sketch

Thought I'd do something different in this post and walk you through how I created a card based on a challenge sketch - for a scrapbook layout nonetheless. Oh, and I used colors from a second challenge.

Meet today's card.

STEP 1

The images in Scribbly Splattery Grunge are great, not only for mixed media projects, but also just for adding a bit of oomph to inked or watercolored backgrounds. I decided to use them and punch little circles to follow the sketch from Scrapbook and Cards Today which you can see on my phone below. Figured I would use a die cut sentiment on a die cut circle for the "title" on the sketch. Got the stamps, dies and watercolors ready to go.

STEP 2
I laid out the stamps I wanted to use (chose those with smaller images like polka dots and music notes) and picked them up on my favorite acrylic block to have at hand for stamping later before starting to watercolor.

STEP 3

I applied water to my watercolor CS. TIP: Tape your watercolor CS to a piece of firm cardboard to a) prevent warping and b) be able to pick it up and move it around. First I put down some light blue and then right over it some dark blue. Dried it in between.

 STEP 4

Wet my brush a bit and put down another layer of dark blue. Then I splattered some water for interest and dried it again.

STEP 5
Now it was time to stamp the watercolored piece. Chose some blues and gray.

STEP 6
Applied the colors randomly to the stamps on my acrylic block and spritzed them with water before stamping. TIP: Press the block down for about 20 seconds to ensure that the color has time to seep into the watercolored panel.

STEP 7
Because I can't resist a bit of shimmer on homemade backgrounds, I spritzed the panel with a Perfect Pearls/water mixture. This also softened up the stamping a bit more so don't do it if you don't want that! Dried it. Again.

STEP 8
So, back to the sketch. Which size circles to use? Punched some scrap paper to test. The sketch had six across, but I decided to use four to let the stamped patterns show a bit better. The circles also fit my card front better. TIP: You probably already know this, but if you use a punch and turn it over you can actually see where you are punching. I punched the circles, making sure to have some stamped images on each.

STEP 9
Hmm. My cheapo watercolor CS didn't punch very cleanly so I took an ink pad and ran it around the circle edges to cover the white. It also adds a bit more definition if you look at the finished card.

STEP 10
I chose Hello Word for my sentiment and had thought I would die cut it from blue or yellow CS and mount it on a white circle, but then decided it would be better to keep things less busy and die cut it from the watercolored panel and mount it on a vellum circle, again to keep things less busy. Thank goodness I could just squeeze it in in the middle of the panel leftovers there. It's actually "upside down" as far as the stamping goes, but no one would ever notice ;)

STEP 11
So back to the sketch again. How to incorporate the "journaling" box? I chose to use the music notes stamp and yellow ink. TIP: I use swatches for my inks, one image stamped with a rubber one with a clear stamp. I like to hold colors next to each other to pick tones which work best together. I laid out my design roughly to see where to stamp it. TIP: If you don't have a MISTI, use the lines on an acrylic block to line your block up with the corner/edge of your panel before picking up the stamp with it. Then when the other elements are removed you can align the block with the corner again and stamp where you wanted to! 

STEP 12
Thought I'd use sequins for the little embellies scattered on the sketch, but then opted for some watercolor splatters concentrated in the general vicinity ;)

STEP 13
Adhered my punched circles. TIP: A T-ruler is a great investment!

STEP 14
So, what to do for the "subtitle" on the sketch? Well, I mostly need birthday cards so I grabbed the tiniest stamp I have which is great for something like this. It's from Shirley's Birds of Paradise. Heat embossed it onto a snippet of yellow CS. My design needed another spot of yellow - not too big to ruin the gallon/quart/pint rule - to tie in with the stamped music notes.

STEP 15
All that was left was to adhere the sentiment elements. I like to use multi medium with vellum and the secondary sentiment made it possible to hide it. I adhered the snippet to the front of the vellum circle with foam adhesive then put multi medium on the reverse behind the snippet before putting it on my cardbase. Adhered the "hello" with multi medium too, only in the middle so that it seems to dance off the card. TIP: If you flip the die cut over you can see the natural curve and apply glue only there. That way you know where you'll have contact when you adhere it.

Whew! Seems like that took forever. Lots of photos I guess, but I wanted to share my thought process with you. And my tips. Here's my finished card again. As you can see I did go back and add the sequins too - three blue, two yellow ;) Hope I've inspired you.

If you try out any of the techniques from our Spotlight posts, don't forget tohook your project up at our Spotlight Project Showcase.

Tschüss,

Maria



Products Maria used in today's project:

 

Scribbly Splattery Grunge, Birds of Paradise, Hello CUTplorations die