Stamp of the Month Blog Hop -- Tea-rrific

Welcome to the March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Wendy Kessler, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

The month's featured stamp set is S1703 Tea-rrific (pictured below).  This set is only available until March 31st and is only $5 with a $50 Close to My Heart purchase.

For today's project, I decided to pull out my watercolor palette and have some fun.  First I heat-embossed the stacked teacups image using white embossing powder.  Heat embossing provides a slight ridge to contain watercolors when painting.  This is a great way to get a more controlled look.  After setting the embossing powder with a heat gun, I used my round watercolor brushes to apply color to the image.  I love how the white outline pops against the color.

One thing to remember when watercoloring is the color will always dry lighter than it appears when wet.  That said, if I was making this card again, I would have added another layer of watercoloring once the first layer had dried to increase the color saturation and help it pop more against the black cardstock layer and sentiment.

Overall, I enjoyed the techniques used on this card, and I am looking forward to more play time with this stamp set.

Supplies used:

*Tea-rrific stamp set (March SOTM)
*12" x 12" Black cardstock
*12" x 12" Watercolor paper
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*Black Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*VersaMark ink pad
*Ranger white super fine embossing powder
*Craft heater
*Watercolor paints
*Waterbrush - small round
*Marvy Uchida LePen journaling pen
*Bitty Sparkles

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at jd designs and for hopping with us on the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month March Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Alyson Mayo. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!