Thursday, March 7, 2013

Handwritten Love Card

Hey guys!

It's Antonia, and I'm back with a new card.


This one started out so neat! I wanted to get creative in the background of my cards this week. I've been watching a lot of Tim Holtz videos--I think you can tell. Tim loves to mix colors and watch them blend, and I started thinking about this the other day, when I realized my Martha Stewart Art and Craft Markers are described as "watercolor" markers on the back of the packaging!

And that got me thinking about some of the neat stuff I've been seeing about Ranger's new Distress Markers. One of Tim's videos on it talks about all the cool stuff you can do with them:


Anyway, I started thinking about what it looks like when you add a lot of water to markers when the ink doesn't really want to move around on the page, much. You can make coloring look a lot softer, and forgive harsh mistakes in handwriting! I love the way handwriting looks, but I know a lot of people feel pretty unconfident about their own handwriting. This technique lets you put a personal touch into your card, and still not compromise the look of the greater card.

I started off by writing the word, "love" on my cardfront until it was completely filled up. Consistency is far more important than actually "good" handwriting, I think!


As you can probably tell, I didn't
even use a ruler to draw straight lines.
I think it looks more organic
this way.
So then, after writing it all out, I pulled out the water-filled watercolor brush by Bienfang. (Incidentally, that brush is my second favorite way to apply ink from stamp pads to cards--the first is the ink applicator.)

With no particular pattern in mind, I blurred the writing. You can still read it very easily, but the contrast between writing and background is now far-less stark. I also love how smooth this technique makes the background look!

Then I wiped across the tea dye stamp pad, stamped a pattern in white chalk ink up one side, wrote out a sentiment, attached it with staples, and used an ink blending tool to blend the edges.

Then, on top of everything else, I added some bronze watercolor paint, and some dark blue essie nail polish. I love brining in unusual supplies--nail polish reminds me of liquid pearls or something. Just be sure you're only using it in a well-ventilated area!

My supplies!

Not Pictured: Provocraft Paper Trimmer and bone folder

I finished off the card with rounded corners! 

I guess it looks like this week's card turned out to be really inspired by the mess on my desk at the time. Everything near the top ended up on the card! 

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