Fall Still Life

#stampinup   #faithfulinkspirations   #ProtipTuesday  Today I'd like to show you a technique I use when working with Watercolor Pencils. Many stampers--and artists--are adept at using these pencils to color beautifully. I'm not so adept. As you've read before, I'm not a fan of coloring--mostly because I'm never satisfied with the results. I felt that way about Watercolor Pencils, until I learned this technique, which is today's Protip.

I start by using a scrap of Whisper White Card Stock as my palette and I lay down a lot of color from my Watercolor Pencils by scribbling a "block" of color, like this:

I used a Blender Pen to pick up the color off my palette and then to color my image. For today's card, I used Basic Gray, Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, and Old Olive. (There's some Real Red on my palette, but I decided not to use it.) Here's how the coloring turned out on the card. Oh! Bonus Protip: I also used Clear Wink of Stella on the cotton--which pulls a bit of the ink off so you can blend the Stella and ink and "watercolor" that way, too.

To build the card, I stuck with a black, white, and gray palette so that the still life in its muted colors would pop--but not too much! I adhered a 3-7/8" by 5" sheet of Come Sail Away Designer Series Paper to a 4" by 5-1/4" Basic Gray Card Stock mat. I wrapped a length of Gray Granite Textured Weave Ribbon around this before adhering everything to a Thick Whisper White Card Stock card base.

I stamped the two-part image from the "Country Home" stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink onto a Whisper White rectangle that I cut with one of the Stitched Rectangles Dies. I adhered this to a Basic Gray Card Stock mat that I cut with the next larger size Stitched Rectangle Die. I adhered the image piece to the card with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I hope you enjoyed my Protip and I hope you'll try this technique with your Watercolor Pencils.

tams# 37636

Product List

Country Home Photopolymer Stamp Set [147678] $21.00	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $6.00	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock [140272] $8.25	Basic Gray 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [121044] $8.75
Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [100730] $9.75	Come Sail Away Designer Series Paper [149481] $11.50	Watercolor Pencils [141709] $16.00	Blender Pens [102845] $12.00
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897] $8.00	Stitched Rectangle Dies [148551] $35.00	Gray Granite 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Textured Weave Ribbon [147656] $7.50	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $4.00