Mojo Monday ~ Recess & Watercolor With Markers Tutorial

Good Morning Friends!

What a cute sketch from Mojo Monday this morning! My little one is home on school vacation this week, and I'm still working on the class planner I promised! I'm hoping to have it done and up by the end of the week. I'm on it for sure!

I made a cute card yesterday for the sweet Sunday sketch challenge (and to help out the playground committee with some cards to send as thank yous), and I got an email last night from my buddy Glenda T. Her down line sent her my card.. (how excited am I that they like me??), so I decided to do a quick tutorial this morning on coloring with Stampin' Up! markers. A shout out to Patti T! Thanks so much for liking my work! There are sneak peeks all over this card... I'll tell you what those are in a moment, but before we get started, here are the measurements for my layers.

Base: 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored and folded at 4 1/4"
Layer 2: 5 1/4" x 4, rose red
Layer 3: 5 1/8" x 3 7/8", daffodil (dont worry too much about seeing a crazy measurment, this layer is only 1/8" smaller than layer 2.. So you would just make it smaller by moving it over two lines on your paper cutter.
Layer 3a: There's a scalloped sticker under there, that I got from the simply scrappin kit.. Almost forgot to put that in the directions!
Layer 4: 4 1/8" x 3 1/8" rose red
Layer 5: Designer paper from a new simply scrappin kit coming out next month! 3x4 (note** you get 12 of these from one piece of designer paper, so with 3 sheets, you could make 36 cards).
Layer 6: 2 1/2" x 3", whisper white.
Layer 7: A self adhesive die cut from the same simply scrappin kit.. I used dimensionals to attach that on the card
Layer 8: Water colored piece, cut with a 1 3/4" circle punch. 119850

That gorgeous bow is tied with Rose Red seam binding, which I'm told will be available for purchase after the mini catalog is gone at the end of the month.. Yea!!! That bow was tied by hand using the "bunny ears" method. It's the same method I'm trying with Alexis to help her learn to tie her shoes.

The stamp set is called Recess and will be available for purchase on May 1st.

Now down to the tutorial...

1. You'll need some aqua painters, and markers to match the project you're working on. I don't like to add too many colors and try and stick to the colors that match my designer paper. The aqua painters are on page 195 (item 103954) and you get two sizes. For watercolor with markers I prefer the smaller brush size.

2. Fill your brush with water, then find something plastic to draw on with your markers. A sandwich bag, a stamp case.. anything plastic will do. Here I used a clear block.
3. Stamp your image in stazon ink. (101406 Jet Black Stazon, page 195). It's important to use an ink that's not going to move when you add water. Stazon.....stays-on.. :D

4. Draw a line with your sky color. This will be your horizon line. Pick up and "GENTLY" water down your blue color and wash it on your background, leaving your focal point white.
5. Repeat the process with the ground.. It's perfectly okay if the line isnt perfect.. Maybe she's standing on a hill! :D

If you look just to the left of her foot, I just added a patch of old olive ink there in a watery stroke. Then, the most important part is... STOP!!! :D A good artist knows when to stop, it's so important to do it sort of quickly and not over do it. If you do, the paper will only absorb so much water, unless you use watercolor paper.. Even then, quick is better. Get it on there and stop... :D
6. I colored her face with blush blossom, and her hair with daffodil, full strength. I could add some brown or black, or change the skin color if necessary.. Alexis says, "oh look mom, you are coloring ME!"

7. Add some color to one section of the focal point.. choose a corner.. in this case I did bottom left and added some color straight with my marker. Then I blended it with the aqua painter. If the line is still too defined, just go pick up a little marker color from the plastic palette you made.
8. I colored the hula hoop with a straight marker in pumpkin pie and photographed it without a flash so you could really see the colors. See how the color was just washed on for the background. I used circles with my brush when adding the color.
9. Here's the 1 3/4" circle punch. I just punched her out and stuck her down as my focal point. :D

Let me know what you think!! :D Rubbah hugs,
Selene Kempton