Gracellie Designs Inspiration Blog Hop and Alcohol pen coloring on water color paper


I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We spent ours traveling, so blessed to see my mother, my sister my Daughter-in-law and my sweet granddaughter! A Beautiful road trip through New York, Massachusetts, and  Connecticut!
We also have a sweet little blog trip today for Graciellie Designs New Release Mid-month inspiration Hop!
 Here are your stops!



Ginny Maxam -  you are here


Guest Designer:



I've got a little tutorial for you today featuring alcohol pen coloring on Watercolor paper - I love the rich look of watercolor paper and the ease of use with my Spectrum Noir pens!



My Favorite of the May Releases is this beautiful butterfly set called 'Persevere':


For my card today I also teamed this set up with another set called  " Sent with Prayer"


Hre's my "how to":
 I wanted something simple and beautiful,

a few butterflies printed on 
watercolor paper




I pulled out my twinkling H2's and did a test butterfly 

This came out much more opaque than I would have guessed - this is due to the watercolor paper, great shimmer due to the ultra super fine mica in the H2o's. But not what I wanted in this card



I ended up doing alcohol marker.  Why not watercolor on the watercolor paper?  
If you want the lovely watercolor painterly effect using a digital, you can't use water colors.  watercolors require water 'wash' to help the pigments move and develop that lovely painterly look. You can't do that with the average ink from an inkjet without losing a  lot of line definition in your print.  That is exactly what happened in the butterfly above.  The ink jet inks work much better with non-water based materials - alcohol pen, colored pencil any solvent based product.  The good new is, you can do this with your alcohol pens!


I didn't swatch this out for you, I just pulled greens and blues
I gently sketched in color and then began laying in more, working light /dark.when you use watercolor paper, the trick is to add the color lightly, let the inks move as you add more color.  You can push the ink in the direction you want it to go, but a light hand on the paper really works well.  Just take your time and don't rub the nib into the paper

you can see I did achieve that painterly looks with very little effort


I did at stickles, I know, Gilding the Lilly - again!

Here is my card





Holding it all together, even the heavy glitter paper I used my faithful Best Glue Ever!

The ferns took about zero effort to just add a little color and I felt it gave the butterfly a nice frame!

I think you will find these lovely sets very useful and if you do buy from Graciellie Designs you can't use the code 'Ginny10' for a 10% discount!  Enjoy the Hop too!  

Have a grat day!
Ginny M






Comments

Chrissy said…
So effective, I really love it. Must try it but wont be as good as yours I bet, thanks for the inspiration
Your card is the most beautiful card I have seen in a long time. Love it!
Cathy said…
Wow, is amazing! I never thought to use watercolor paper!
Gailthecrafter said…
Hello, I love the texture of watercolor paper thanks for sharing your talents.
Unknown said…
Ginny love that big butterfly and fern great tutorial!
Really lovely card !
Hugs
MarĂ­a Pilar said…
Thanks for the tutorial. Your card is so awesome. Love so much
Shylaashree said…
ginny you are so kind enough to share some tips always. a beautiful card
Absolutely gorgeous card! That fern stamp is so beautiful in its detail!
Oh Ginny what a beauty - love the shimmer on the butterfly, and setting it on the fern is perfect
Blessings
Maxine
Dee Earnshaw said…
OMG this card is GORGEOUS. the design and coloring are so beautiful - thanks for sharing this with us;)

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