A Hello Birdi-ful Card Set

As you know, I've simply gone ga-ga over the watercoloring.  Brandy and I are both enamored with the various techniques and have invested in a couple of different supplies in the last several months.  I put all of this to good use to make these valentine's for my co-workers.  It's taken me some time to upload and edit these photos with my guest design work over at the City Crafter Challenge Blog, but I finally got it all done.

I cut a heart shape out of some scrap paper and used it to trace the shape onto some Arches watercolor paper.  Brandy and I have discussed her watercolor class and the recommendation that a professional grade watercolor, like Arches,

can make a big difference in your watercolor projects.  I found that to be especially true for me when creating this kind of blended wash.  The water and color just flow better on the Arches paper.  If you look at each card you can see more or less success in the blending.  A couple came out with blooms that I would call mistakes but in the end become interesting texture and color in the finished heart.

I used three primary tube watercolors to create the colors - blending to make purples and some of the darkness in the blues.  All in all, I'm pleased though I think there is significant room for improvement.

The sentiment, birds and branch are all stamped onto the Arches watercolor paper using my new Greeting Farm Tweety Pie stamp set.  I colored the images with the same watercolors, blending to create shades of red, orange and purple.  I am super pleased how the birds blended to highlight the breasts of the birds.  Brown was a little difficult to make, so the branches come across a little flat.  Still, a fun project and a good excuse to practice my skills.

The sentiments were all stamped onto the hearts once the watercolors dried using black Archival Ink and Crimson Close to My Heart ink.

The ladies at work loved these cards, filled with small Dove chocolate hearts.  A small treat in a week filled with Valentine's fun.  I hope your day was special.  Wishing you happy, watercolor filled crafting!