Watercolor Wonder Crayons and Watercolour Pencils Discontinued - only while stocks last

My beloved watercolor wonder crayons are soon to be no more...  Unfortunate supply issues have been the cause of their demise.  These creamy, watersoluble crayons are my favourite method for watercolouring, and can be used in quite a few ways.  I found a great review that shows all the ways I was going to mention, thanks very much to the Gingersnap Creations team for their comments and images, click the link to see the awesomeness in action.    

The crayons will be available only while stocks last, and I recommend the Brights and Regals collections in particular for a good mix of colours for most watercolouring needs.    They are great value at $29.95 per set, and looked after will last a lifetime.

As the same supplier produces our Watercolour Pencils, they will also be leaving us.  They are $34.95 a set of 24 acid free richly pigmented pencils.  They can be applied direct to an image, and 'melted' with a blender pen or aquapainter.  Here's a link to a YouTube tutorial using these beauties

So, take a look at the previous post about the retiring colours, and give me a call to order your must-haves - 0403 175 790, email, or NEW - Shop online!

Elements of Style - Get Well Soon and crayon watercoloring tips

I made this card for my mum, a keen gardener after her knee surgery late last year.  It uses the "Elements of Style" stamp set, to be found on page 99, from $39.95 (clear mount).  It is a great collection of stamps that work well either used separately, especially this floral branch, or together.  It also has a couple of great greetings, and there is the co-ordinating 'Decor' standard wheel as well.  If you have the Baroque Motifs stamp set and love it, you NEED this one in your collection too - you'll find yourself using it time and again.

In this card, the stamped layer is watercolor paper, stamped in Black Stazon.  I've used my Watercolor Wonder crayons and a blender pen to colour the image.  This is probably the easiest way to watercolour a stamped image,  but many people don't know the crayons work brilliantly with a Blender Pen.

Here are my tips for a professional-looking result:

*Stamp image on heavy weight cardstock, watercolor paper is best, followed by Confetti, using Stazon ink
*Choose your crayons, selecting light and dark shades to mix, according to the colour scheme you want
*Add short strokes of crayon direct to the stamped image, not to cover the area, just to lay some colour down.
*Using your blender pen, move the colour around to fill the section, simply stroke onto scrap paper to change colours.  You will get more intense colour from the initial pen strokes, this will shade out as the solublised colour moves out of the fibre tip onto the paper.
*For small areas and tiny colour accents, scribble a bit of crayon onto the lid of the tin - this acts like a palette.  You can then pick up a small amount of colour to dab where you want it
*You can build up colour intensity by adding more crayon onto parts of the image, to create depth and shading. The hashed or darker areas of the stamp are a good place to do this, as this is where the shadows would be on a real object.You can either leave the crayon as is, or blend it into the colours you've already laid down.
*Don't forget your neutrals to add some shading around the outsides of the stamped image, again look for where a shadow would naturally fall.  I often use Sahara Sand for this, as it is a not too brown, not too grey neutral

Back to the card for a mo, and then I'll give a quick rundown of other techniques for the crayons.

The card base is square, Very Vanilla.  Can't remember the size Karen, think it was 5" x 5" finished
Next up is a layer of Blushing Bride, our dusty pink In Color for 2011-12.  Yum!  I've stamped this with French Filligree background in matching ink and distressed the edges with the Cutter Kit
Then there is a layer of Pear Pizzazz, my favourite green of the moment, and the reason I don't miss Mellow Moss as much as I thought I would!  Also yum!
Then we have the stamped panel, also distressed, coloured as described above with various shades of pink, red, green and brown.
To finish I used the In Color twill ribbon in Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz, and stamped the greeting from "Thoughts and Prayers" in Pear Pizzazz ink.

OK - after a few months of being unavailable, the Watercolor Wonder Crayons have very quickly found their way back into my most-used colouring tools.  They are available in sets of 10 in each of the 4 Colour Collections, and also come as a fabulous New Colour Collection kit, with new tins and inserts in the pretty pale green, so you can re-organise your existing crayons into their new families and add the new colours without duplication.  You can see this kit on Page 142, it's $64.95 for 17 colours and the fresh new tins.  If you're new to crayons, this kit is an economical way to get a good selection of colours to play with. (But if you're like me you'll soon want ALL the other colours too...)

A list of the new colours that come in the New Colour Kit to refresh your memory, now they have become integrated into the old faves in your collection:

Daffodil Delight
Tangerine Tango
Melon Mambo
Rich Razzleberry
Pacific Point
Pink Pirouette
Wild Wasabi
Baja Breeze
Marina Mist
Cajun Craze
Cherry Cobbler
Riding Hood Red
Early Espresso
Crumb Cake
River Rock
Soft Suede
Basic Gray

What else can you use the crayons for??

*Direct to rubber - colour a stamp with crayon by scribbling onto the rubber surface.  Bold stamps like Inspired By Nature and Upsy Daisy are perfect choices, but any bold-ish stamp will work.  Start with the lightest colour and add accents and layers.  Mist your cardstock (heavy weight is best as above) with a fine water spray to moisten the surface.  Mist the crayon-ed stamp with the spray, holding the bottle a fair distance from the stamp.  You are aiming for a fine dampness, not pooling water. The aim is to 'melt
 the crayon, but not to have it dripping off!  It does take a little practice, but the beautiful watercolour painting like results are worth it!



*Aquapainter and Crayon - You can also use the Watercolor crayons with an Aquapainter brush, which gives a wetter effect good for larger areas and backgrounds.  The base of the crayon has a perforated wrapper, so you can remove the paper from the crayon butt.  This way, you can preserve the tip for detail work, and pick up rich colour from the base, just like using solid pan watercolour paint!

Enjoy your Sunday people, please give me a call on (02) 9484 9447 if you're keen to book a free in-home workshop during the Sale-a-bration period (ends 31st March) - you too could be making cards like these!

Window Dressing and watercolouring

This is a card I made for a special birthday boy recently. The set I have used is called "Window Dressing" which is a stamp set available exclusively to hostesses. I have also used one of the cute little characters from the "All in the Family" stamp set to fill the window, although the set does come with several choices to put in the window including a kitty cat, flowers and a sweet little girl. The background layer is Real Red, and I have stamped it with the retired "Linen" background, in Real Red ink, and the next Night of Navy layer is also stamped in Night of Navy ink with "Linen". The window image has been stamped in Stazon black ink on Watercolour paper, and I used Watercolour pencils and blender pens to add colour. The soccer ball is from the Family Favourites accessories set, and I stamped it separately and popped it up on some Stampin' Dimensionals. The entire window is also raised up on Dimensionals. The ribbon is Real Red Polka Dot ribbon from the Summer Mini, but tied upside down so just the stitching edge can be seen. The greeting is stamped in Whisper White Craft ink using a stamp from the "On your Birthday" stamp set, and some coloured brads added to frame it. Lots of fun, contact me if you would like to find out how you could earn the "Window Dressing" Hostess set for free!

Natures Nest turtle, isn't he cute!

Here is another in the series of cards I made with the Natures Nest set of stamps from the Summer Mini catalogue. As with the Shell card, I stamped onto Watercolor paper using Stazon black ink and then used a selection of markers and a blender pen to build up colours, mixing and layering them to achieve a look of depth and reality. There's Really Rust, Sage Shadow, Mellow Moss, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Sahara Sand. More maybe, I lost count! I ruffled up the edges with the Edge Distressing tool from the Cutter Kit, and then matted it onto a piece of Kraft cardstock. Then we have a sponged layer of Mellow Moss that I have punched with the Spiral punch and distressed a bit to make it look like a torn page from a notebook. The base layer is Chocolate Chip, stamped with the "Sanded" background in Chocolate Chip ink. To finish, I used a piece of Mellow Moss taffeta ribbon, and tied short lengths of Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla taffeta around it. The greeting is from the exclusive Hostess set, Best Yet. Want it? It's easy! Give me a call and book your workshop, and take advantage of the great Sale-a-bration promotion too for even more benefits.

Natures Nest - great fun with watercolouring!

The card above is one that I made on my recent beach holiday, using Summer Mini stamp sets. "Natures Nest" is a set of 5 stamps with beatifully detailed lines, which makes them a wonderful choice for quick and easy watercolouring. For the Shell card, I scribbled patches of multiple marker colours, mostly from the Earth Elements colour family, onto a plastic plate. I used my blender pen to pick up dots of colour, and applied them to the image. I stamped the shell in Jet Black Stazon ink, onto our lovely SU Watercolor paper. I was trying to achieve the look of the real scallop shells we'd been finding on our beach walks, and I think it turned out quite nicely! The base card is Chocolate Chip, stamped in Chocolate Chip ink using the "Sanded" background. Then we have some more layers of Creamy Caramel, Ruby Red, Cameo Coral and Chocolate Chip, sponged, stamped or distressed. To finish I added a tie of wide double stitched Chocolate Chip Grosgrain.