Hi everyone!

It’s the 6th of the month and that means the NEW Spellbinders Clubs are released to NON-Club Members!  

I’m super excited to be designing for Spellbinders’ Stamp and Die of the Month Club this year!  The Clubs are a great value and there is free shipping!  If you haven’t signed up, I hope my card today inspires you to do so!  Here is a bit more information about the Clubs, in case you’re interested:

For this month’s card, I decided to try no line coloring with watercolor pencils.  I’m so glad I did!  I absolutely love how this card turned out!

To make this card:

1. Stamp your parrot image onto watercolor paper using a very light tan or gray dye ink.  The ink must be dye-based for this technique so that the lines disappear when you apply water over them.  
2. Use a black Artist PITT pen to dot the eye on the parrot.  These pens are permanent and will not bleed when you watercolor over them.
3. Use watercolor pencils and a water brush to add a bit of color your image.  You do not need to color in the image with the pencils – just add a little coloring in the darker areas and use the water brush to pull the color out fill in the rest of the area.  TIP:  Do not go back in with the colored pencil while the area is still wet as you will get color that doesn’t blend again well.  This isn’t a bad thing – it’s just not the look we want for this design.
4. Set the image aside to dry completely.
5. Die cut a large oval out of an A2 panel to use as a stencil.
6. Place the die cut stencil over your card base and ink-blend a blue and green background inside the oval.
7. Use two of the smaller oval dies to create an oval frame out of white card stock.
8. Once your parrot image is dry, die cut it out with the coordinating die and ink blend it a bit with your background colors – mostly on the edges.
9. Glue the oval frame over one edge of the parrot die cut; trim any excess so that everything fits inside the oval.
10. Add foam adhesive strips and foam squares to the back of the oval-parrot and adhere it to the ink-blended card front.  You can add some liquid glue to the foam so that you have some wiggle room in getting it placed correctly.
11. Add a few gems for some shine.

If you’ve never tried no-line water coloring with watercolor pencils I hope this card inspires you to try it!

Have a wonderfully creative day!