April My Monthly Hero Countdown: Idea #5 + Giveaway

Hello and welcome back to the countdown to the release of the April My Monthly Hero Kit! Release day is Monday, April 1 at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific.

Good morning! Jess here with a watercolor card using the gorgeous dies from this month's kit!

It seems like forever ago now but in 2012 I went on a Mediterranean cruise that ended in Venice and we had two magical days in the city. When I saw the kit I was immediately transported back to that place...it is such a fabulous depiction of a gorgeous city! I decided to keep my card soft and a little impressionistic to give you more of the feel of Venice rather than a realistic recreation. Plus I love the forgiving nature of that impressionistic look as watercoloring isn't my strong suit! ;) 

So to start I die-cut all the elements from the kit with watercolor paper and used temporary adhesive to adhere them to my hardboard.  Then I wet the paper thoroughly with clean water and added diluted watercolors to the wet surface.  This allows the colors to blend more easily and gives it a softer look. I dried the paper with my heat gun between layers and then added more watercolors. I did paint onto the dry surface to create the flower boxes which gives you that more defined look. I also used a flat brush to create the sky and the water background.  Then I set everything aside to dry.

Next I stamped my sentiment onto Pitch Black cardstock with Versamark and heat-embossed it with white embossing powder before trimming it down to a thin label. Then I layered and adhered my watercolored pieces over a white card base using Precision Glue. The watercolor paper had curled a bit during drying so after adhering it together I immediately placed a few large acrylic blocks over the card to hold the watercolor paper down while the glue dried. Finally I used foam mounting tape to add my sentiment to finish the card!

Win a kit before you can buy it! Just leave a comment on this (and every) Countdown to Creativity post! We’ll randomly draw one lucky winner from all the comments left across all countdown posts, and announce the winner first thing Monday morning, April 1, before the kit launches at 10am Pacific. The more you comment, the more chances to win!

Good luck!