Wonky Cake and Watercoloring

  I never seem to make enough birthday cards.  Maybe because I live and teach in a small town where I know so many people or maybe I should get busy and make some!  Either way I ran out again and had to make more.  I wanted to play with watercolors and my Petite Cake Stamp and this card gives me the perfect opportunity.

Yeah, I doodled.

I started by making the background.  I taped some watercolor paper to my old bamboo cutting board using some painters' tape that was left over from sprucing up the bathrooms.  I use the tape because my paper doesn't warp as much when I do that and it's easier to drip the colors together.  After scribbling with purple and blue watercolor crayon, I didn't really get the bright effect I was hoping for. I slathered water on my card front with my favorite fat brush.  I choose Yellow Green, Cerulean and UltraMarine from my portable Koi watercolors.  Scribbling the colors on one at a time, spritzing and titling my board created the background above.  Very vivid!  I set it aside to dry (with a little help from my heat tool) while I worked on the cake. Just keep adding layers of color until you get what you want.  If it muddies up, flip the paper over and try again.  There are some really terrible roses on the back of this watercolor paper.

slathering

Digging through my paper scraps (which always makes me feel virtuous ) I found a trio of papers that could be friends together. I stamped each paper about three times and then fussy cut them out. Then I cut the layers apart.  I promptly lost one of the smallest pieces and haven't found it since.  Anyway then I glued them to the watercolor piece in a Leaning Tower of Pisa fashion.  I didn't like they way the cake was floating in mid air so I gave it a doodled cake stand.  Once you doodle it's hard to stop so I doodled on the cakes as well. 

After gluing the watercolor piece town, I noticed it was still a little warped from all the water I used so I stacked some acrylic blocks on it over night.  I also have an antique book press for serious warping. situations or if I'm binding a book  You  could stack any heavy thing you had on it, but make sure nothing on your card is wet.

adding watercolor layers

Looking at the card front, and since the card was so whimsical, I decided on a simple sentiment.  Use your MISTI to stamp on watercolor  paper, or borrow one from a friend ,or start saving now and get one.  Any textured paper makes it tricky to stamp on, but the MISTI allows you to stamp it precisely again until you get the impression you want.  It's also great for lining things up.  I used it to align my Squiffy Cursive Alphabet stamp set and stamp "wish".

I put the card front on some Kraft cover.  Then I doodled a simple border to pull the card together and it was done.  I slipped it in a box of crafty goodies I sent to a friend for her birthday and I hope it makes her smile.

If you want to doodle remember it's quite simple and not perfect so don't fuss with it too much.  Just have fun.

Blessings,

Carolyn

Materials: All projects feature my products from Pink Bunkadoo or are affiliate links.

Petite Cake Stamp
Cursive Alphabet Stamp Set
Strathmore Watercolor Paper
Koi Watercolors
Ranger Collage Glue
Micron pen