Watercolor and Stencil Embossed Background

I'm playing along with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Photo Inspiration. They post up a fabulous new challenge each Wednesday and the winner receives a $50 Simon Says gift voucher! The inspiration photo screamed summer, beach and water to me, so I immediately pulled out my Simon Says Happy Swimmers stamp and die set and started playing. 

Fun In The Sun Summer Pool Party Card by Juliana Michaels featuring Simons Says Stamps Pool Party stamp set, watercoloring and stencil embossed background technique

I began by stamping the swimmer girl and boy onto watercolor paper. I colored them with my Zig markers and then blended the color with water and a small paint brush. To give the adorable little swimmer's googles a more realistic look, I added some Glossy Accents.


The really fun part though, was the creating the background. It took me a few tries to get the look I was going for, but I finally got it to work. I began with a piece of watercolor paper and used temporary adhesive to hold it in place on my craft mat. Using a Ranger Mini Round Ink Blending Tool,  I applied various colors of blue Distress Ink to the paper. I started with the lightest color and then added progressively darker colors with more color applied at the bottom, than at the top, of the paper.

I then placed a stencil over the top of the colored paper and used washi tape to hold it in place. I lightly spritzed a paper towel with water and then held the wet paper towel over the openings on the stencil to remove some of the ink. Make sure you don't use too much water or it will get under the stencil and remove too much ink. I then removed the stencil and splattered some water onto the background with a large paint brush. I gently removed the excess water with a paper towel. This step removes ink as well. Next, I applied clear embossing powder to the entire piece of paper and heat embossed it. Not all of the powder will end up sticking, but I love the effect it achieved. I thought it added a nice water like element to the background for my little swimmers.



I had a blast playing along with this challenge. I just wish I had more time to play along with challenges like this. So what is your favorite challenge blog?

Make sure you check out all the latest arrivals from Simon Says Stamp.

Fun In The Sun Card Supplies: Here is a list of some of the supplies I used on this card. Where available I use affiliate links on the products I purchase and use. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for your support!


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Sunny Studio Stamps Sweet Shoppe | Watercolor Embossing Card

I'm thrilled to announce that I'm guest designing for Sunny Studio Stamps again today.  As some of you may recall, I guested for them back in June with a Fresh and Fruity card that featured a watercolor bleaching technique. Sunny Studio just shared their new stamp and die release and they asked me to create and share some cards using one of their new sets called Sweet Shoppe. I'm sharing one card here, but I have four other cards that are up on the Sunny Studio blog and I hope you'll take a minute to pop over and check them out.

To create my card, I stamped the adorable ice cream cone on watercolor paper in various colors of pigment ink. I then stamped the sentiment with pigment ink, using my MISTI to help position it on the card. I sprinkled the stamped images with clear embossing powder and heat set them with my heat gun. 

You're Sweet As Can Be Card by Juliana Michaels featuring Sweet Shoppe Stamp Set by Sunny Studio Stamps and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

You can do the stamping and heat embossing in small sections, but make sure you don't apply the embossing powder on the cones behind where you want the sentiment before you stamp the sentiment. You want to apply all of the embossing powder to this section at the same. If you stamp and emboss the cones and then stamp and emboss the sentiment, you will loose the smoothness you achieve if do them all at the same time. Hopefully this makes sense, but believe you me, I did it the other way the first time and the sentiment really didn't pop like it does here.

You're Sweet As Can Be Card by Juliana Michaels featuring Sweet Shoppe Stamp Set by Sunny Studio Stamps and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

After I finished all the stamping and heat embossing, I selected a Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker (my favorite markers - if you can't tell) in a color that coordinated with the ink I stamped the ice cream cone. I then colored in the cone and used a small paint brush and water to blend the color.

The final touch was the addition of a length of sequin trim, I adhered in place using Therm O Web Bling Zots.

Thanks for stopping by today and make sure you head over to check out my Sweet Shoppe cards on the Sunny Studio blog. Here are a couple peaks to give you a little encouragement to head on over there.


Here is a list of some of the supplies I used on this card. Where available I use affiliate links on the products I purchase and use. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for your support!

Sunny Studio SWEET SHOPPE Clear Stamp Set SSCL136Sunny Studio Snippets SWEET WORD Die Set SUNNYSS802Sunny Studio Snippets SWEET SHOPPE Die Set SUNNYSS029



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CardMaker Magazine Blog Team

I'm super excited today to share some wonderful news I've been holding onto for a little while now. I've been asked to join the CardMaker Magazine Blog Team!


Every day from now through December, you can check out the CardMaker blog to see some fun card and paper crafting projects created by me and their fabulous new design team. I invite you to visit their blog to learn about the other talented designers I'll be joining. While you are there, make sure to sign up to receive email updates on their blog posts and/or to get the CardMaker newsletter.


For those of you who don't know, CardMaker Magazine, is published quarterly in both digital and print formats and features instructions for creating handcrafted greetings for every occasion. It was introduced as the first major magazine devoted to the card-making craft in 2005 and it remains the leading print-and-digital publication for card-making enthusiasts on the market.

To celebrate, I created a little card to share with you today using the Ranunculus stamp set by Simon Says Stamp and my favorite Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers. I stamped the background onto watercolor paper using Versamark Ink, sprinkled it with white embossing powder and heat embossed it. I then colored it in with the Zig markers and added some water with a paint brush to blend the colors. For the focal image, I stamped the flower and leaves on watercolor paper and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. I then colored them with the Zig markers and fussy cut them before adhering them to the card front.

Best Wishes card by Juliana Michaels featuring Simon Says Stamp Sketch Ranunculus Stamp Set and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for joining me in this little happy dance of mine!

Here is a list of some of the supplies I used on this card. Where available I use affiliate links on the products I purchase and use. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for your support!




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