Now, I've never been a good shabby chic creator, though I love the look and the intricate Prima projects people make. But I also think the Clean and Simple (CAS) look can be just as hard to get right. That said, I tried with this pile o' ducks from Art Impressions. So cute! The sentiment that comes with it says Piles of Smiles, which is just perfect. But I went with a simple Hi! The side pieces are just trimmed from the cover sheet from my pack of Bo Bunny 12x12 paper. I kept them because the colors are so pretty. I used Tombow markers for the ducks and balloons, along with a waterbrush.
CASology is having a blog anniversary and to celebrate you can enter their link up if you create a balloon project. I had to draw in these balloons and it's always nerve-wracking to draw on a fully colored project...because one mistake can set you back! Luckily, it went okay, even if it's not perfect. Of course, I had to add a little glitz, so I colored the balloons with my Wink of Stella pen, you can see it a bit in this photo.
Ok, I admit, I like bunnies. And my son has always like bunnies and chicks, so I tend to gravitate toward them even more. Which is why I love a cute bunny or chickie craft. I saw these Art Impressions stamps and fought the urge for awhile.
I watched a bunch of videos from Art Impressions on their technique for watercoloring with their stamps. I kept checking on that bunny stamp in the shop...and one day, huzzah! They went on sale over at Ai. So, this little set came home with me, along with the flowers, the stump set and more. Here's what I made the other day.
It was a fun afternoon and I learned some things. I wanted to use more colors than I have in Tombow marker colors, so I used some Distress Inks also to stamp. It's a little more tricky when you're doing the flowers so I did use the markers for those. But the stump/crate, bunnies and the sky are all Distress Inks.
I used three different types of paper. For this guy, I used actual watercolor paper with a pretty rough texture. This paper will suck the paint right in and there's little time after stamping to manipulate the paint. You can add water, but again, that gets sucked in pretty fast. This was actually a plus when it came to the crate, I love the textured look that came out of the brush and paint drying so fast. but it meant the sky and bunny were darker than I expected.
For this bunny, I used the Bristol paper pad I had. I love Bristol for a lot of different media, it seems smooth and not too hard to use with anything I've tried. Watercolors, markers and colored pencil all do well. Basically, the stamping comes out more defined with the watercolor paper above because the water doesn't react too much with the paint.
This paper and the watercolors were pretty good friends and it all went together fine. When I tried some mixed media paper (below), however, I ended up preferring the mixed media paper. I think with the Bristol paper on the brown bunny, I used a little too much water or it reacted a little quicker and spread out more.
For the mixed media paper, the watercolors/Distress Inks went on smoothly and I was able to manipulate it easily, just like the Bristol paper. But for whatever reason, I just prefer this paper for this project. Maybe because it was a middle ground. It didn't let the water react as much as with the Bristol and wasn't as quick to dry as the one on watercolor paper.
If you'd like to try this style of stamping/watercolor, I highly suggest that you buy these little corner stamp positioners, I had to jerry-rig my own and it wasn't always perfect placement of the bunny with the stump.
Check out the Ai video here and their channel to see how easy it is to make these little paintings.
