GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Hello & Thanks w/Norine Borys

Hello friends, this is Norine Borys and I’m very happy to be back with you again today for a guest post. I have 3 cards to share with you, because as usual, I couldn’t stop at just one stamp set or card design. I stamped all of today’s cards onto Strathmore Bristol smooth card stock and colored them with Distress Markers and a water brush.

The first two cards are a variation of each other, one being a vertical design and the other a horizontal card. I stamped the images for each with the MISTI so that I could get the same placement for each one.

For both cards, I stamped with Versamark Ink and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I began by stamping the Fierce & Fabulous sentiment, but I wanted to simplify the sentiment by letting it just say “you are fabulous”. I did this by placing my stamp in the MISTI, then covering the “fierce” and “amazing” with two strips of tape, inking up the rest of the stamp, removing the tape and then stamping on the card stock and heat embossing. Next, I put the card stock back in the MISTI and stamped again with two of the floral sets from the Hello & Thanks stamp set again, positioning them to fit the arrangement of the word “fabulous”.

For the card above, I colored the flowers and leaves with some of the same colors as I used on the first card I shared. I used a water brush to blend and move the color, and shared some of that color to blend into the background behind the flowers and the sentiment words and finished off with some water brushed ink splatters. I used a stitched rectangle die to cut out the card panel and popped it up onto a card front covered with a couple of coordinating patterned papers.

For the second card, I left a few of the flowers white, lightly shading them with some grey ink so it didn’t look like I just forgot to color them (grin), and color-painted the leaves blooms and background as I did above. I die cut this panel smaller and aligned it on a portrait oriented card front with a coordinating cardstock mat and some striped patterned paper. Once again, some Tonic Studio Nuvo Drops complete these cards.

The last card I'm sharing today, again uses the Hello & Thanks stamp set, but this time I've paired it with the Tossed Florals stamp set.

The background is stamped all over with the Tossed Florals stamp using Versafine Onyx Black ink and the focal image is a combination of images masked and built with the Hello & Thanks stamp set, the teacup, saucer, one of the floral bouquets and the “hello” sentiment.

I used the same colors of markers for the teacup image as I’d used for the background to keep everything cohesive, and once colored (painted?) and dry, I splattered with the same colors by scribbling onto my splat mat and picking up the color with a very wet paint brush and tapping lightly above the paper to rain down tiny sprinkle dots. Then I stamped the sentiment over top and heat embossed with clear embossing powder to help it stand out. I die cut the focal image with a stitched square die and matted it with a grey card stock that matched my ink color and popped that up with some dimensional foam tape. A few Tonic Nuvo Drops in silver grey complete this card.

Thanks for stopping by today and thank you to WPlus9 for the invitation to be a guest designer today! I always love playing with WPlus9 product and I’m delighted to be able to share that with you! If you’d like to see more of what I do, you can find me at www.thevelvetlemon.com or on Instagram: @norinehope. Have a wonderful day!

Norine

GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Watercolor Markers w/Carissa Wiley

Hi everyone! It’s Carissa Wiley here with you today. I have a fun project to share with you featuring the easiest watercolor ever, using water-based makers.

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

Honestly, I like to refer to this as the lazy watercolor method.

I think a lot of times as crafters, we over think things. We think things have to be complicated or time consuming to get great results. I fall in to this trap a lot and I have to remind myself that sometimes simplicity is best for me….even when it comes to techniques.

I don’t want to downplay the beautiful results that you get with traditional watercolor methods…they are absolutely stunning. But if that is something that is intimidating to you, I want to show you that you can still achieve beautiful results with simple techniques.

This card features just a few supplies, including the Hello And Thanks stamps and dies, and Citrus Background Builders stamps from WPlus9 - linked at the end of this post. I added a simple banner from the Bountiful Blooms die set to ground my sentiment.

I’ll walk you through the creation of this card in today’s video tutorial, so be sure to check that out. I’ll talk you through how I created beautiful watercolor images with just a couple water-based markers and a brush. If you want to watch this video in HD on my YouTube channel, click HERE. While you’re there, don’t forget to hit that thumbs up, subscribe and turn on the notifications.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed this project. Until next time, I hope you have a fabulous day!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Wplus9 Bountiful Blooms Die Shop at: WP9	Citrus Background Builder Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Die Shop at: WP9

GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Tropic Like It's Hot w/Wanda Guess

Hello everyone! My name is Wanda Guess and I'm very happy to be sharing some cards today on the WPlus9 Blog! Hope you are having a wonderful day! I am an avid paper crafter and blogger and I love to share art with people. I try to do something creative every day. I hope you'll visit my blog - A Blog Called Wanda. If I'm not blogging, you will most likely find me sharing photos on Instagram. My Instagram is @stampcatwg.

I'm so excited to be joining the crew at WPlus9. I've been a fan for a very long time! Last year, when WPlus9 launched their tropical themed release, well, my jaw about dropped to the floor! I immediately wanted all of it, and the ideas started flowing right away! I love anything with a tiki, tropical, flamingo vibe. And I love to create with bright bold colors. When Dawn asked me to guest design for today, I went straight for this collection. I have two cards to show you, so let's get started! In the midst of Winter, I'm bringing you a bit of Summer!

What's better than flamingos and flowers? Not much!

I started this card by die cutting the beautiful Trellis Background 2 Die from bright white paper. I cut and folded a horizontal A2 card base. Here's the tricky part... I cut the top of the card base off, leaving about 1/4 of an inch left at the top. Then I lined the inside of the card base with pretty blue paper. I used liquid glue to glue the edge of the Trellis Die to that little folded over part at the top of the card. This makes the Trellis Die Cut piece the front of the card now! I set this part under a stack of books to make it lay flat and continued to make the rest of the card.

I stamped and die cut out leaves, flowers and the flamingo using the Tropic Fever Stamp Set and the Flock Yeah Stamp Set. I colored all the images in tropical colors using Copic Markers.

Next I die cut out a black panel using a Stitched Rectangle Die. I used the Flock Yeah stamp set to stamp the sentiment and heat emboss it with white embossing powder. Now all of my pieces were ready to assemble.

I used small foam squares to attach the center sentiment panel and the flowers, leaves, flamingo to the front of the card. This is a bit tricky since the front of the card is a trellis! However, there is enough room to attach the foam squares so everything will hold tight. On the back of the trellis, I die cut another black rectangle and mirrored that to the front one.

For this next card I used the Flock Yeah Stamp Set along with another WPlus9 set called Summer Citrus. Those pineapples! Oh my! The sentiment is from the Southern Sentiment Stamp Set. It all works together so nicely for a Hello card!

I used Stitched Rectangles Dies to die cut a green layer and a white layer for the front of the card. The finished card is an A2 size cut from white cardstock. I used Mermaid Lagoon and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks to create a blue background on that top layer. I splattered Mermaid Lagoon Ink and Copic Opaque White ink over the blue blended background.

Next I stamped and die cut the palm trees, the pineapples and the little flowers. I colored them in with Copic Markers. I also used Copic Opaque White ink to splatter white over the images and then set them aside to dry.

I stamped the sentiment in rich black ink in the upper corner of the card. This is only part of a larger sentiment. I masked off the other part of the sentiment with washi tape and only stamped the "hello" portion.

I layered the green and blue layers onto the card base. I used foam squares to attach the palm trees and pineapples to the card. Then I sprinkled a few clear gems to finish it off!

Big thank you to everyone at WPlus9 for inviting me to be a guest designer today! I had fun working with these beautiful stamps and dies. I hope I've inspired you to create something today.

Aloha! ~Wanda

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Summer Citrus Shop at: WP9	Summer Citrus Die Shop at: WP9	Tropic Fever Shop at: WP9 | SSS | EH	Tropic Fever Die Shop at: WP9
Flock Yeah! Shop at: WP9	Flock Yeah! Die Shop at: WP9	Trellis Background 2 Die Shop at: WP9	Southern Sentiments Shop at: WP9

GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Emily Midgett

Hi there! Emily Midgett from Sixth Street Sundries here with you today, and I’m thrilled to be back again as a guest for the Wplus9 blog.

Watercolor has been an obsession of mine for the last several years, and after learning the basics, I began to experiment with different ways to add depth and an element of realism to my projects. The florals from Wplus9 are gorgeous, realistic botanical drawings, so I always enjoy playing with new techniques with them!

Today, my goal was to add some more variation to the colors of my flowers by taking advantage of the transparency of the watercolor medium and adding multiple layers of color to achieve lots of depth and dimension. Here’s a video showing the technique:

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

In case you can’t watch the video, here’s a basic rundown of the technique:

I began by saturating my watercolor paper with clean water until it was shiny, then dropping a few different shades of watercolors (Daniel Smith Quinacridone Lilac, Naphthamide Maroon, Quinacridone Purple, and Indanthrone Blue) onto this very wet panel and muddling them with my wet paintbrush until I had achieved a mottled, ethereal background. (I like to choose colors that blend nicely together to avoid a muddy mess!) After allowing this panel to dry completely, I heat embossed the floral swag from Wplus9’s Kind Soul onto the background using silver embossing powder.

I then used the same 4 shades of watercolor to add details and depth to the floral images, focusing one color on each type of flower or foliage. The transparency of the watercolors allows that first layer to shine through, and adding the stamped image over the top of this background wash helps to take the guesswork out of where to add different variations of color on each individual flower! I added a sentiment from the recently released So Very stamp and die set.

You might be wondering... what is the point of adding that first layer of watercolor? Well, I have always struggled with adding color variation to my florals. I tend to stick with the same color/s on each petal of the flower, which can result in my flowers looking a little flat, in my opinion. But, in reality, there are many different colors on something that might, at first glance, appear “pink.” My goal in adding these extra colors on the first layer was to provide some additional undertones to create variation and interest on each flower.

In my experimenting for today’s post, I also created this project using Wplus9’s Christmas Rose using the same technique. I chose reds, pinks, and purples, which all blend nicely together, to create this project, adding in a sentiment from the new Sending Cheer die.

Well, that’s all for me today! I hope you found this post interesting, and maybe will try to add some watercolored layers of your own! Thank you so much to Dawn for having me back as a guest! ~Emily

For more of Emily's work, be sure to check out her blog.

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Christmas Rose Bouquet Shop at: WP9	Kind Soul Stamp Set Shop at: WP9	So Very Shop at: WP9	So Very Die Shop at: WP9

GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Getting Cosy w/Debby Hughes ft. COOKIES & COCOA

Hi, Debby here today with a little cosy watercolouring!

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

Let's jump straight in! I used the Cookies & Cocoa set for this card in a style I'm drawn to - that of a focal point of no-line watercolour on an otherwise clean and simple card. I started with a piece of Arches Cold Pressed watercolour card in the Misti and stamped the outline cup image from the Cookies & Cocoa set in Antique Linen Distress ink three times and popped the marshmallows image on top of each cup.

I painted the cups with Daniel Smith watercolours. I chose three colours for the cups which were inspired by some candles I just bought. Although I enjoy all the bright traditional colours of the winter season, I'm always more drawn to muted shades and so for this card I challenged myself to use the muted colours I love. I mixed a grey-green, a dilute pink and a dusky, grey purple. To finish off the painting I added a light shadow beneath the cups which I blended out with plenty of water. This helped ground the cups and stopped them looking like they are floating in mid-air. Then I took a little white gouache and added a few highlights. Gouache is an opaque watercolour and will show up even when painted on a darker colour. Once I was happy with the watercolour on the cups, I splattered a little of the green watercolour mixture around the card and then I added splatters of a solution of Perfect Pearls. This is one of my most favourite ways to add sparkle, highlights and that ethereal look that I like.

I stamped accent images from the Cookies & Cocoa set on the cups with clear embossing ink and white heat embossed - two snowflakes for the cups in the foreground and a heart for the pink cup at the back. I then trimmed the panel down and foam mounted on a Desert Storm card base. For the sentiment, I chose the "It's time to get cozy greeting" from the Cookies and Cocoa set. I treated a scrap of Slate card with a powder tool, stamped the sentiment in clear embossing ink, sprinkled with white embossing powder and heat set. I then used a scalpel and ruler to trim the piece into a banner to add to the card. I struggle with straight lines and find this method to be the most reliable as I can use the lines on the clear ruler to ensure I'm cutting things straight. I foam mounted the sentiment banner on the card and used a T-square ruler to ensure I had it on straight.

To finish off the card I added a few sequins in toning pastel colours to bring in a little more sparkle for the season and kept those in place with Nuvo Deluxe adhesive.

Thanks for joining me today and I hope you enjoyed seeing these cosy cocoa cups come to life.

~Debby

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Cookies & Cocoa Shop at: WP9 | SSS | EH

ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES

• Media - Daniel Smith Watercolours, Winsor & Newton white gouache
• Ink - Antique Linen Distress Ink, Simon Says Stamp clear embossing ink
• Embossing Powder - Simon Says Stamp white
• Card - Arches Cold Pressed watercolour card, Neenah Desert Storm 100lb, Simon Says Stamp Slate card
• Embellishments - Perfect Pearls powder, Iced Sherbet sequins from Little Things From Lucy’s Cards, Star Dust Stickles
• Adhesives - Nuvo Deluxe adhesive, 3M foam tape
• Other - Misti, Scissors, Tweezers, Anti-static powder bag, heat tool

GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Watercolored Holiday Cards w/Norine Borys

Hello, hi!

Norine Borys back with you again today for a Guest Post to share some cards created using the latest WPlus9 release. There are some beautiful sets in this release, and I had a difficult time choosing which to use first!

I began with the Merriest Snowflake stamp set. I stamped a random pattern of snowflakes and stars to loosely fill in the background of several A2 sized pieces of watercolor paper with Versamark ink, and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I couldn’t decide which color scheme I really wanted to use, so I did a variety and ended up loving these three.

Creating color blends like this is very simple. I washed the whole card panel with water, then daubed in two to three different colors and let them blend and mix however they like. After letting the first layer dry, I went back and added a little more color. Watercolor paints dry back lighter than they first go on, so the blue/grey and green/turquoise in particular, needed a bit more intensity.

Setting aside the watercolor card panels to dry, I then stamped "Merriest Wishes - from our home to yours" onto vellum strips, which I also heat embossed with white embossing powder. I wrapped the vellum sentiment strips around the watercolored panel and adhered them on the back. Then I adhered the card panels to a coordinating color of card stock and added that to a card base. A few colored Nuvo drops to coordinate complete each card.

These are very quick and simple options for anyone looking for mass-production card ideas.

Next I used Cookies and Cocoa stamp set.

These cards were a little more labor intensive as I stamped the images onto masking paper and cut them out so that I could build the scene. I really enjoy that kind of card making so I didn’t mind the extra effort. I loved adding the partial snowflake images to the mugs by masking the outside of the cup and stamping the snowflakes with Versamark and heat embossing with white embossing powder.

If you'd like to know more about the cards, please head over to my blog for more photos and a run down on creating them!

Thanks for stopping by today, and thank you to WPlus9 for the chance to play again with such delightful stamp designs!

~Norine

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Cookies & Cocoa Shop at: WP9

Merriest Snowflake Shop at: WP9