Monday 1 June 2015

Gnome Friends

Hi and welcome to my blog.  It's Monday here and normally I would be at work, but today we celebrate the Queen's Birthday so I get a day off - yay!  What better way to spend it than making a card.

I made this card for the Friday Mashup challenge, to use watercolors and also the sketch from Retro Sketches.



Once again, I used the adorable You Gnome Me set from My Favorite Things.  In my eternal quest for find the perfect tools to make watercoloring easier for me, I succumbed to temptation and bought some Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens. This is my third attempt with them.  My first attempt won't make it onto a card and my second attempt will feature later in the week on a DT card.

I struggled a bit with the red on the gnome - it kept wanting to spread everywhere.  But I have that problem with red Copics too - what is it with reds???  I'm pretty pleased with how much easier these are than normal watercolor paints, though, so for me I think they're a good investment.  

Once I had the images colored, I cut them out.  The background was sponged with Distress Inks and adhered to a Desert Storm cardbase.  I then stamped the sentiment down the side.  The gnome and the toadstools were adhered using foam tape as were the clouds.  I then drew some grass with a Copic Multi-liner pen to ground the images.

Here's a close-up where you can see the problems I had coloring the gnome.  I did think about not putting up this photo, but hey, we all have to start somewhere, right :)



Thanks for visiting.  




Create a project with "Watercoloring".
Create a project using "the Sketch"
or Mash it Up! and create a "Watercolored Project using the Sketch".

Products used:

Stamps:  You Gnome Me (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Archival Black, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint
Cardstock:  Watercolor, white, Desert Storm
Accessories:  Zig Real Brush Pens, Flat Bottom Clouds die (MFT), Copic Multi-liner Pen

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got top honors at Friday Mashup.



10 comments:

Patrice said...

Oh, Karren this is adorable. Your colouring is fabulous, even if you did have a little bleeding with the reds (who doesn't!). I'm glad you shared regardless. You'll notice I don't blog any water coloured cards - there's a good reason for that. You're enabling me once again - I love this little gnome and must go check it out. x

Marika said...

Well, Karren, I am glad that you bought these pens. I've see the hype around these and I am wondering whether I should order them or not. I love the colouring on the gnome, couldn't really see where you went wrong even in the close-up. If you mean those little tiny bleeds, he's just had a cup of blueberry juice... isn't that what they drink all the time...? Your scene is so adorable and I love that you added those tiny grasses, gives so much perspective to the picture. By the way, is that a colour from a pen on the snail or did you mix that by yourself? So beautiful colour!

Heidi Weaver said...

Hi Karren, what a cute Gnome! Your combination of challenges worked out beautifully. Your watercolouring made the card come alive. Thanks for joining us this week for the Friday Mashup challenge.

LeAnne said...

All I can say is: CUUUUUUUUTE!

Cynthia said...

OMG, this is just adorable!!! Awesome job with your water coloring and the images are perfect! Great challenge card this week with us over at The Friday Mashup!

stampwithsandy said...

This is stunning, Karren! Your background and coloring are amazing!

Katie Melhus said...

Fantastic Karen!! This is adorable and your coloring is so rich looking!

SonjaK said...

Oh no, you did it again! A gnome card - and such a beautiful one. I love your watercoloring. Don't worry about the bleeding, it simply goes with the medium. That's no fault, it's the style.

Unknown said...

Hi Karen! I find I'm always critiquing my own cards, lol, but I think you did a lovely job coloring the gnome. Thanks for joining our challenge this week at the Friday Mashup!

Joanne James - The Crafty Owl said...

One word Karren - ADORABLE!