Technique Time - Watercolor with a waterbrush

Watercolor Techniques with a Waterbrush

We have a special treat in store today! Our Creative Arts Manager, Karen Pedersen, is showing us a few creative and easy watercolor techniques using our small round and medium roundwaterbrushes!

Unlike a traditional paintbrush, the handle of a waterbrush is made up of a water reservoir, eliminating the need for a water cup. The light colored bristles allow the painter to easily determine their color load and paint concentration, and the included cap protects the bristles and brush head while also sealing the water inside.

If you are accustomed to using traditional paintbrushes, you will notice that controlling a waterbrush is quite different. With a little practice, however, you too will find your groove and discovery why we love them!

Follow along with Karen, below, and pick up a few tips and tricks for making a waterbrush work for you!

Here’s a closer look at the artwork examples from the video:

The first watercolor technique you saw teaches how to create a colorful background like the one on this page. Using a medium round waterbrush, lay down watercolor paint onto an all-purpose mat. Then, lay the paper you want to add the color to facedown onto the paint and allow it to soak up for a few seconds. Turn your paper right side up and let it dry before continuing with your project.

If you look closely, you’ll see that in this Welcome card, we have two different watercolor techniques to talk through. The first, is the stenciled background. Using a stencil we created out of a stencil sheet and a Cricut® shape, we were able to paint a beautiful watercolor textured background with a medium round waterbrush. The second technique Karen talks through is how to achieve the detail and color variation seen in the plants of this card using the small round waterbrush.

The last technique we share can easily make any of us look like watercolor experts! Instead of ink, add watercolor paint to a raised stamp and use it to create the image on your artwork! Look how beautiful those leaves turned out on this card! Make sure not to add too much water to avoid ending up with a blobby image. (In the video above, Karen shows you how!)

Happy painting!

Shop my website to find your supplies

Mystery Hostess rewards for July orders

Have you had a chance to check out the new fun products for July and August from Close To My Heart?  

Grab your favorite beverage and take a few minutes 

to browse the new idea book here.

I am offering the hostess rewards for the orders this month 

to one lucky mystery hostess.

For every $25 worth of product you order, your name goes into the drawing -- so a $50 order puts your name in twice 

(and and makes you eligible for the stamp of the month for only $5)  

$75 - 3 chances and so on.  

So far, the rewards are up to $40 and 1 half price item, 

but we're close to $60 of free product, 

so place your order by July 31 and get your name into the drawing. 

If I have internet connection while in the northwoods, I will announce the mystery hostess winner on August 1.   If not, I will be able to connect on August 2, 

and will do it then.  GOOD LUCK!

 Here are a few of my favorites!

Joyful Sunflower

Treasured Memories

Gnome Matter 

This one is so popular that only the stamp set is available now; however the 

combo set including the stamp set and thin cuts will be available in August.

Timber 

Summer Vibes

And there is so much more -- even some Disney inspired papers and stamps.

And then don't forget, there's always a stamp of the month.

Here's the one for July.

For My Beautiful Friend

So place your order on my website by midnight July 31 and have your name added 

to the mystery hostess drawing.

What's new for July and August at Close To My Heart?

New idea book for July and August

visit my website to take a walk through this new catalog fun summer, masculine, and Disney-inspired paper packs and stamps are featured Two exclusive stamp sets now available for individual purchase It has been a few months since the My Acrylix Forever Grateful and Through Thick and Thin stamp sets made their debut as part of our National Scrapbooking Day event. Ever since their first offering, they have only been available as part of the project bundles for that event, but, due to popular demand, we have now made these two popular sets available for individual purchase! The Forever Grateful stamp set features icons and phrases designed to express appreciation for the essential workers in your community. The Through Thick and Thin stamp set features icons and phrases designed to help spread messages of good cheer and add more positive feelings to our memories of these difficult times. As the world continues to slowly recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are continuing to provide these and other items to help crafters everywhere capture the realities we have been facing together. Stay safe and keep crafting! See more stamp sets

July Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - For My Beautiful Friend

Welcome!

Glad you could join us today!  A blog hop is just one big loop of fun and creative ideas. So if you're joining me here, grab your beverage of choice, and sit back ready to be inspired by creative ideas for using this new Close To My Heart stamp of the month.  If you are coming here from Becca's blog , you are on the right path.  At the end of this post you will see a link to Krista's blog for you to continue following the hop.  

The stamp of the month, For My Beautiful Friend, is a set of 20 stamps that will be wonderful for designing cards, tags, bookmarks, or scrapbook page embellishments.  As you go through this hop, you'll see lots of creative and fun ideas for using this stamp set.  

I belong to a group of card makers who come together once a month the share different materials, techniques, or tools to use in designing cards.  We were finally able to get together in person with social distancing by setting up tables in a big square in my garage.  Where there's a will, there's a way!   Prior to that we were meeting on Zoom and sending each other packets in the mail.  

One of my friends brought a wreath builder tool to last month's meeting, so I decided to try the stamps from this set to create 3 of the 4 cards I made using this set.  For coloring the flowers I used the Tri-Blend Alcohol Markers.  

Welcome to my garden and fairy gardens to see my cards today.

 For my last card I used the CTMH Multi Square Windows Thin Cuts 

as my tool for designing.

The For My Beautiful Friend stamp of the month set is available only through the 

month of July.  After seeing all the great ideas in this blog hop, you're going to 

want to add this to your stamp collection.

You can purchase this set for $18.95, or get it for only $5 with a qualifying order of $50 (US) through your Close To My Heart consultant or find it here .

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Join me as we hop on to see the creative ideas using this stamp set on

Krista's Crafty Corner

Be sure to visit the other consultants who have joined in on this

 blog hop for lots of inspiration. If for some reason you get lost along the way, you can find the entire list of participating consultants on Melinda's blog to get back on track.