Watercolor Play Weekend

I had two days off from school for a lovely 4-day weekend!  I promised myself some creative play time, and boy, did I have some!  I decided to restart the online classes I was working on last year.  If you haven't tried any of the Online Card Classes yet, you're really missing a great value.  They offer lots of videos, PDFs, inspiration, and the best part is, you have access for life!  I've taken the Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 101, 102, and now I'm taking Watercolor for Card Makers.  It took me until Tim's CC102 came out before I got off my butt and finished CC101.  I still haven't finished CC102 (I like to think I'm savoring it), and after logging on to the Watercolor classes, I realized I was only on lesson 2.  See what I mean?  Who cares if the classes began a year ago!  I can do them at my own pace.

So, this lesson was about masking.  I pulled out my fabulous, new Kuretake Gansai watercolor set I got for Christmas.  I learned about this set from Jennifer McGuire's blog (here's her video about them), and she happens to be the instructor for this lesson.  The idea is to mask off your stamped image, leave it uncolored, and watercolor the background.

I began with this image from Tim Holtz.  It looked like a simple image to mask off ... a large, plain rectangle.  Fun, but I was ready to add more color.

Next up, this flower image from Stampin' Up!  If you use the right brush, it's no problem masking off any area.  Simple, but not my cup of tea.  Oh, the birthday sentiment is from Close to My Heart.

Now, this was more me!  I've been dying to try this Dina Wakley set, and it didn't disappoint!  I kept the watercoloring bold, but simple, and I just love it!

This was a different masking technique using clear embossing powder.  I stamped the background (a plaid stamp from Stampin' Up!), embossed it, and painted away.  I then removed the embossing powder and stamped the images (not sure of the companies).  The word heart was painted over using Ranger's Black Enamel Accents. 

And finally, my favorite.  I did the same technique as above, but with a more subtle background by Impression Obsession.  I laid the seashell stamp (Tim Holtz/Stamper's Anonymous) on the paper, and painted around it.  I removed the stamp and added the very watered-down red in the center and blended it around the edges.  I added some Walnut Distress Ink around the edges of the card.  Sorry, but I don't know what company made the Discover sentiment stamp.

And, this card will go nicely in the Monday Challenge for Simon Says Stamp blog.  The randomly chosen winner of this challenge will win a $50 gift card for Simon Says Stamp!  One of my favorite shopping sites!

I've got a few creative obligations I've got to make time for, but after this weekend, all I want to do is the next lesson in this Watercolor for Card Makers class!