Watercolor Sympathy Card Set

Not my kitty, but the cherry tree just outside my craft window is in full bloom right now and my sweet little Andromeda does like to climb it.  Never seen her napping in it, though!

Hi, Friends......

Today I am sharing a series of watercolor sympathy cards. I had posted one that was similar on THIS POST, but I had made a bunch of these pretty embossed watercolor backgrounds using leftover Easter egg dye!!
(You know the old crafter's motto: "Waste not, and your craft room will always overflow with unusable items." Hahaha!)
I paired the rest of these backgrounds with a simple scripture from Verve - New Mercies stamp set, stamped with Versafine ink in Smokey Gray. I LOVE how these turned out!!

Other supplies used:
Sizzix Textured Impressions - Roses embossing folder
Distress Inks in Picked Raspberry and Mowed Lawn

#1 - I wasn't sure how sponging DI over the existing color in the background would work.....(I envisioned a disastrous muddy mess...Eek!).....but the layered colors worked great and gave some pretty combined effects as the hues mixed.   I think it helped that they were dry sponged on...and so the lower layers weren't activated very much. 

Here are the others I made:

#2 - I love the "orange peel" effect that I get when I smoosh two pieces of the mixed media paper together and there isn't quite enough watery dye to go around.  The color follows the "channels" between the sheets of textured paper and gives me this lovely dimpled effect.  This probably would look better if the dimpling weren't in the sentiment space, but watercolor backgrounds have minds of their own!

#3 - Lots of watery dye on this background so no "orange peel" look.  I love the dreamy smooth look of this one, too.

#4 - I almost discarded this one because of that streak on the right edge, but I went ahead and used it.  The natural variations are part of the charm. 

CAUTION:  Science Nerdiness dead ahead!!!  You might know that I am a "Mad Chemist" sort of crafter.  That part of me loves the "paper chromatography" effect I get when I make these dye-based backgrounds.  This color separation phenomenon is something I observed way back when I was just a kid.  I was totally fascinated and spent many hours discovering which colors would wick out of all my old classic Flair felt-tip pens...esp the black ones!!  It was extremely exciting to discover in science class that this  phenomenon had a name!  This was long before I was aware of my alchemist alter ego!  (BTW...I think all crafters are alchemists as we love making something fine out of base materials!)

#5 - The streak on the left side is mostly obscured by the embossing and sponging.  The very watery look in the center was perfect for stamping the sentiment. 

Which is your favorite of the cards? Do you like the total watery look or the ones with some of the dimpled look better?

Today is sunny and is supposed to be 80 degrees this afternoon. (Eeek!.....Quite a change from the snow we had last week!! lol...) Thank you for stopping by. Your visits and sweet comments are very appreciated!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering these cards in the following challenges:
1. DL.Art May Linky Challenge - Anything Goes
2. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Hint of Pink
3. Die-Cut Divas May Challenge - Use Flowers
4. MarkerPOP Challenge #119 - Watercolor Florals
5. Creative with Stamps Challenge #14 - Flowers

 











6. Crop Stop April Linky Party - Anything Goes using Product/Brand CS carries (I used Darice embossing folder and Distress Ink)
7. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Great Outdoors 
8. Cupcake Inspirations #405 - Inspiration Photo/Colors