Every Thought of Love Apart

My first hostess gig is up on Splitcoast Stampers today! I'm challenging us to use text on white paper and then add RED. I'm sure you all have your reds still out after the Valentine's you've been mass producing, right? So leave them out for one more project and join in the 

Mix-Ability Challenge forum.

The watercolor paper was measured and marked with a pencil and then the ruler became my tearing guide along each side. Here's a tip for tearing. Keep the ruler on the paper you want to keep and tear away from the outside. You will get a "line" tear at the ruler's edge, but then some of the paper will split and leave rugged edges. I love that about watercolor paper the most because it is thicker paper and shows more of the tear.

I used a Verve Stamp set, Always on my Mind, that is mostly sentiments and in this great font style to create a collage of text. I placed them onto my Fiskar Stamp Press as it lay over my paper. I was able to organize where the sentiments would go and then I could ink them all up and flip it over to stamp. Since I was stamping on watercolor paper I also used my Darice Stamping Mat to be able to get a good impression. I should have practiced on a scrap paper first because some of the stamps were still new and never inked before, but I just flipped over the watercolor paper and stamped again. Oh, I almost forgot, I used a sweet little filigree stamp from Small Celebrations above and below one of the sentiments for focus.

I grabbed three reds from my acrylic carrier (see photo below) and dabbed just a little bit on a styrofoam plate. Why? Because I don't have a full sized reusable palette, that why. Then I started watering down the paint one at a time with a flat brush and went in all sorts of directions. Each time cleaning and drying my brush to use a new red. Some of them were mixed on the plate so I have more than three reds, but I started with three. :)

My border is another trick I use and I've mentioned it before here on my blog. I have a grid ruler that was originally bought for quilting. You can see through it and allows you to line up from the edge with no need to make guide marks. I just position the rulers measure marks for 1/4-inch over the edge of the paper. Then I use a pencil to draw my line across the paper. I go around each side like that and then use a permanent or opaque marker to freehand my lines. Once dry I erase the pencil marks. Sometimes I leave them.

Details:
Stamps: Always on My Mind (Verve Stamps, Small Celebrations (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Watercolor paper (Strathmore), Kraft (Wausau)
Ink: Jet Black (Archival Ink, Ranger), acrylic paints (Naphthol Crimson, Naphthol Red Light, Transp. Red Medium)
Accessories:   grid ruler, water, paint brush, scrap of seam binding colored with Copic Markers, Black Fine Tip Marker (Sharpie)