Watercolored Fairy

Hi all and thanks for stopping by today.  :)  I made this fairy card using Pure Innocence Fairy Girl to coordinate with the framed Pure Innocence piece I made in this post.  I had all the papers out still and just had to use some more of the mushroom patterned paper.  It's just TOO perfect with this image. :)

I decided to play in  Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #64.  Make sure to pop over to see what other stampers did with this sketch. :)

To keep this card (and image) cohesive with the frame, I decided to watercolor her. 

Here are some watercolor tips for you:

• Buy several plastic pallets from walmart or other craft store.  They generally run less than $1.  Drop a couple drops of reinker (dye ink) in the wells and then one drop of the straight color on the inside of the pallet directly by the well you placed the same color in.  Squirt a couple squirts of water in each well to water down the ink, and then you can use the straight ink inside for shading as you watercolor.  The AWESOME thing about this, is that when you are done, if you have ink left in the wells, just set it aside and it will dry.  When you are ready to color again with the same colors, just squirt some water in the wells again and it will rehydrate and be ready to go.  No waste!  Just try to cover it with plastic or place it in a baggie after the ink dries so you don't get dust on your pallet.
• Use a nice watercolor brush or EMPTY water brush.  If you have water in your aquapainter, you will dump too much water on your image and the colors will run and bleed.
• Don't color areas adjacent to each other without drying first (either air dry or use your heat gun). 
• I like to stamp my image, then clear emboss for more control.  When watercoloring, the colors will be "trapped" within the embossed edges and you'll be less likely to get running colors, etc. 
• If you make a mistake or your colors start running together: dry, then re-wet the area with JUST WATER.  Grab a paper towel and soak up the water in the area.  That should remove the color as well.  Repeat as necessary.  Don't rub the area, as you'll damage the paper and then the ink will soak into the paper, making the color much darker.
• Keep adding color until you are happy with your image.  With watercolor, you can keep adding color, different strengths of ink/water, until you have the desired look.
• Remember it's watercolor.  It's ok... however it turns out.  It is YOUR art.  :)

Here is a peek inside:

Stamps: Fairy Girl Pure Innocence
Ink: PTI black
Paper: Crate patterned paper, white, hot fudge, SU watercolor paper
Accessories: Fiskars apron lace border punch, silver brads, Swarovski crystal 4 mm, clear glitter, quickie glue pen, aquapainter (water brush), plastic pallet, Janome sew mini, red line tape, red line dimensionals, red line dimensional dots, clear embossing powder

Have a "fairy" nice day.  :)  See you tomorrow with another card!