Watercolor Fun With The New House Mouse Heart And Soul Collection

Hello fellow crafters! Deborah Hellman here to share with you some cards that I created using the new House-Mouse Designs Heart and Soul Collection. I love House-Mouse, and this new rubber stamp collection does not disappoint. They are sweet, beautifully drawn, and easy to color with all the purposeful detail. With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, these stamp sets include some great sentiments that can be used to express love, caring, and encouragement.

For my card set, I decided to use watercolor to my stamped images, but you could easily use colored pencils or alcohol ink markers to add a little color to your stamped images. They could even be used just as a stamped image…. so many options!

For my first two cards, I used the Heart and Soul and Stitched with Love House-Mouse Designs Stamp Sets. For the backgrounds, I used the Paper Rose Rainbow Twirl 2.0 Paper cut down to 4¼”x5½”, Raven Colorwheel Cardstock, Notched Corner Frames Etched Dies, and Essential Modern Ovals Etched Dies to cut out my sentiments.

Tip: Whenever you don’t have the exact length frame or shape die that you want, use the partial die cut method to cut shapes that are longer and/or shorter than the original die. Ex., after stamping your sentiment, tape your shape die in place over the beginning of your sentiment, place it on your bottom cutting plate so that the beginning of the sentiment is toward the machine and will be cut first, place the top cutting plate partially over the sentiment so that it covers about half to the sentiment, and run it through your machine.  Then, flip the sentiment around, line up the die with the end of the sentiment, tape it in place, place the top cutting plate over the end of the sentiment down to where the previous cut stopped, and run it through your machine. Voilà, you have a custom cut.

For my next two cards, I used the Brew-tiful Day and Secret Ingredient House-Mouse Designs Stamp Sets. For the backgrounds, I used the Just Sayin’ 12″x12″ Printed Paper Pack cut down to 4¼”x5½”, Raven Colorwheel Cardstock, Notched Corner Frames Etched Dies, and Essential Modern Ovals Etched Dies to cut out my sentiments.

For my watercolor supplies, in addition to the House-Mouse stamps, I used a BetterPress Black Ink Pad, Tim Holtz Distress 8½”x 11″ Watercolor Cardstock (cut into 4¼” x 5½” panels), Yasutomo Fusion Brushes Size 1 and 2, Altenew’s Artists’ 24 Pan Set, and Yasutomo 7 Section Flower Porcelain Dish.

Note: All of the BetterPress Inks are perfect for using with watercolors, because the ink is acid-free, permanent, and waterproof.

Beginner watercolor steps:

• Step 1: Stamp all images on 4¼” x 5½” watercolor panels.
• Step 2: Select your patterned paper.

Time-saving Tip: By selecting your background and coordinating papers first, you can ensure that your paint colors will match.

• Step 3: For your first layer of paint in each area, add a little extra water to dilute each color in a porcelain watercolor dish or palette. Some watercolor paint sets have partitioned areas in the lid to help with paint mixing. This wash layer will serve as a base and highlight. You can mix colors until you achieve your desired color. Make sure to test all of your colors on a scrap of watercolor paper before applying the paint to your paper.

Tip: If you do not have watercolor paints, you can use dye-based or Distress Oxide Inks instead. Just smush your ink pad onto a glass surface and then add a couple of drops of water. If you have water-based ink refill bottles, you can use a couple of drops of ink with a couple of drops of water.

• Step 4: When painting, to prevent colors from bleeding into other sections, make sure to not work on two colors that are side-by-side. Instead, skip around your image and give each section a chance to fully dry before adding paint to an adjoining area.

Tip: You can use a heat tool set on low to help your paper to dry quicker.

• Step 5: Once you have blocked in all the areas that you wish to paint with a light wash of color and it is completely dry, begin to add additional layers of color with less water added, more color value. Again, be careful not to work on two areas that are side-by-side if the first area is not completely dry.

Spellbinders Supplies:

Other Supplies

Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Cardstock, Altenew’s Artists’ 24 Pan Set

Thank you so much for visiting the Spellbinders’ Blog today. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. Please come back and visit again to see more wonderful paper crafting inspiration.

Happy crafting, Deborah Hellman