Beth's Paper Cuts: Feel like an artist

While at the Stampin' Up! convention I was able to play with the Watercolor Winter Simply Created card kit. I only made a few of the cards while I was there and I finally got around to finishing the kit last week. This card kit is quite big, it comes with supplies to make 20 cards, all with a fun watercolor theme.

The photo doesn't show it all, you get a lot, and a the paint brush too! You will need re-inkers in a few colors, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Coastal Cabana and Smokey Slate. You add the ink to some water to use at your "paint". You can use some of your own "Merry Christmas" stamps or purchase the Watercolor Winter Too set for $11.95.

There are 4 card styles and you get supplies to make 5 of each, with fun envelopes too. I made 3 or four exactly as directed, then used the left over pieces to design my own versions.

This is one of the cards. The white layer comes pre-embossed with a woodgrain texture.

This card was pretty simple and the only tip I have for this one is to keep the trees in their sheets until after you have painted them to keep them from curling when you apply the watercolor.

This is a second card from the kit, also pretty straight forward. Same tip as the trees, keep the sleds inplace while applying your watercolor and then punch them out once they are dry.

The is a third card from the kit and probably the hardest despite the simple look to it. The stripes in the background need to be painted on, and the letters are also painted and applied individually.

I have a few tips for this card. At convention they told us to turn the card on its end and apply the stripes by allowing a drip to run down the paper. The drips wont quite make it all the way down the paper as they get absorbed but that's ok, just add another drop at the top and it will want to run down the track already made by the first drip. And remember, these are meant to look like handmade watercolored card, so don't make yourself crazy trying to get the spacing perfect or straight, the beauty of watercolor is the variations in color and the imperfect lines. This is how it is meant to be, let it go!

Keep your letters in place on the cardstock as you paint to keep them from curling and so you don't lose them. You get enough letters in this size to spell Merry & Bright 5 times in several languages, as well as an extra alphabet at the bottom so you can really get creative and spell a lot more.

In the instructions you were told to hang the letters off of the included twine as if they are hanging like pennants and then glue them down. That proved just too much for me for some reason and I decided to just glue them down and skip the twine all together. I lined the letters up by sticking them to some post it notes and adding some Tombo to their backs. Then I just placed them on the card.

Here is the final card as instructed by the kit. This one may have been the easiest. You get a-lot of letters in this size as well, so you can really get creative with your message.

Here is a card I made with pieces from the kit. It was fun to only make some as instructed, to sort of get a feel for all the pieces, and then let yourself go and make your own with all that's left.