I HAVE to be HONEST

I know that I am really behind in a few tutorials that I have promised. But I have a very good reason. One, that once I've shared, I'm sure you will totally understand. The last time I did a tutorial, my husband checked out my blog. He came home from work and asked me how I managed to to do that? When I explained that I used my tripod his response was "Oh, I wondered whose hands those were. They looked like man's hands." WHAT!!! I swear that when men get married they should be handed a list... THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT SAY TO YOUR WIFE. I don't know about you, but to me "You have Man Hands" is a no brainer. Apparently not. I adore my husband, but he is, after all, a man(sigh). So, as you can see, I have been a bit shy about photographing the monstrosities that hang from my upper limbs. I have never had nice hands. I worked in a dental office starting as a senior in High School and continued for the next 16 years. Rubber gloves are not kind people. I have never been one to splurge on having my nails done or anything. So, I have really been working hard to get my hands to look nicer...more feminine. I have lotioned, buffed and lotioned some more. For weeks, I have been doing this and.......they STILL look like crap. So, I've given up. I did decide to paint them a pretty shade of pink so they will indeed have some feminine quality to them. And now I realize you will all be inspecting them in the pictures. Great. So first let me show you a card I made yesterday with some Verve stamps. I got this set for my son's First Communion invites. I think the verse is just perfect for this occasion. This also falls into the categories of Mojo Monday sketch and the challenges at OCC and on Splitcoast:)
This card starts with a base of Baja Breeze. I really love this color. I ran a little over half of it through my cuttlebug for that embossed background. To do this I put my card in the embossing folder sideways. Does that make sense? This is adhered to a slightly larger piece of Kraft cardstock. You can somewhat see it in the picture. I then cut and stamped the Not Quite Navy with an old background stamp called French Script. I used NQN ink as well. I am loving those metal buttons from Making Memories. I am almost out:( I stamped the diamond pattern from All in A Row in NQN along the left side of the card. The cross and the verse are from a Verve set called Jeremiah 29:11. The Cross is stamped in NQN onto the Kraft cardstock and the verse is stamped in Choc Chip craft ink. This is my first "real" set of clear acrylic stamps. I have to say I really like how easy it was to line my verse over the top of that cross. It also inked up very well. I'm really happy with them:) Ok, back to the details. Once I had everything stamped, I lined my scalloped nestie over the top and ran it through the cuttlebug. I then paper pierced each scallop and adhered with dimensionals. I wanted to be able to send this to my brother. I'm hoping the scallops don't take away from the masculine"ness" of it all. Wow, lots of feminine/masuline talk today.

Now on to the TUTORIAL: ( don't look at the hands...don't look at the hands....)

This is how I did the flowers in THIS POST

First, I must say that this in not my idea. I stumbled upon this on some other blog. I just can't remember where. Sorry. I wish I could give credit. Not only are my hands shot , but the minds going as well:) And stop looking at the owie on my thumb. Yes, I'm scarred for life. No, not from the owie....from my husband's comment. Years of therapy will be needed I'm sure. OOOH...therapy equates to stamps here. Hehe...maybe I can use that as an excuse and it will be all his fault( evil laugh inserted here). Sorry, I'll try to stay focused....tutorial on Easy watercoloring...3...2...1

To start I embossed my image in black on watercolor paper. Now, you don't need to emboss. I just like how that looks. What you do need to do is stamp with a waterproof ink....Stazon is good. You must also use watercolor paper to achieve this look. I then took a lighter shade of blue ( baja breeze in this case) and used my aquapainter to lightly apply it to the petals. ( You could probably skip this part depending on the size of your image and how much you blend later on. ) Now let this dry.




Next take a marker and lightly trace the outside edges. You don't need to do them all if it is a small image like this one. Larger images will require more ink. Play around with highlights and shadowing a bit.








Now go back to your Aquapainter and pull the color from the outside edges into the center. Blending as you go.










If you end up with too much ink in an area you can remove some of it by following this technique. Place your aquapainter on that area pulling up and then take your fingers and "squeegie" off the water on the end of the aquapainter. Repeat until you have removed enough of the color. I got this idea from a tutorial on Julie Buhler's blog HERE. It is a great tutorial on a somewhat different technique. I want to be her when I grow up. She has fabulous ideas.




Well, here is the finished card. I'm not real happy with the layout. This is one of those cards that came from a bunch of cards that were started and never finished. I don't know if you can tell, but I stamped the flower twice on the watercolor paper and then stamped just the top again and cut it out to layer over the top of the shorter flower. Dimension is good:)

I will be working on some other tutorials over the next week or so. Stay tuned! I'm off to grocery shop with my kids today. No school and no food. I'm not sure what awful thing I did to deserve having to take the kids with me. It will be a quick trip that's for sure. Wish me luck!