Saturday, June 28, 2014

My Stifled City Girl

I went to college in New York. Upstate, but we'd sneak down to Manhattan every now and then when we'd deprived ourselves of Ben & Jerry's for a week or two and saved up the $19 it took to get one of those crazy People's Express flights.

I know big cities aren't for everyone. Most of the time, they're not even for me. But every now and then I do miss Gotham. One of the greatest things about New York is that it is possible to be by yourself for days on end in huge crowds of people. It's sort of like the internet that way - you get all of the excitement and weirdness of this big sea of humanity, but without ever having to talk to anyone.

And the water in New York is acceptable too for this water-averse human. It seems sort of civilized and tamed down there at the lower end. I love that feeling you get when your view opens up to the Statue of Liberty and you feel like you've walked to the edge of the earth. SO MUCH STUFF and then nothing.

So when I FINALLY got to bust out Calling all Heroes, I knew what MUST be done. Is this not the cutest??

www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=138002&dbwsdemoid=36196
The first card I made with this set was super graphic and cute (can't show you until convention) in the style of the set, but the card I made with my heart was a little different. :)




I outright stole this technique from my sister. We were in an India Ink painting class this month and she was making all these cool landscapes by folding up the bottom of her paper onto her wet painting to get a reflection. She got some amazing results and I know I had to try it with this beautiful little cityscape.

First, I scored the watercolor paper. Oh - and I could not get this to work with cold press watercolor paper. No matter how much water, ink etc. I tried, it wouldn't transfer. So I ended up using hot press Fabriano. I even tried it with regular cardstock and no dice.

Next, I masked off above the fold with Post-It masking tape. Then I inked up my stamp in Tempting Turquoise. Using a sponge dauber, I dabbed Blackberry Bliss all over the stamp randomly. Then I sprayed the bottom half of the paper with water, stamped the image on top and folded the stamped image down into the water and burnished it. When I opened the card, this is what I saw.


Well almost - I went back in with an aquapainter and added some Daffodil Delight. 

Cool, eh? Easier than some other reflection techniques too.

If you want to get this set, you better hurry - it's a while supplies last set.
 
Hope all you city people like it as much as I do. :)

Loveyameanitbye.

22 comments:

  1. Totally wow!! What gorgeous results. The colors are wonderful.

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  2. Lovely!!!! Great technique and wonderful colors! Love the line " One of the greatest things about New York is that it is possible to be by yourself for days on end in huge crowds of people. It's sort of like the internet that way - you get all of the excitement and weirdness of this big sea of humanity, but without ever having to talk to anyone." Sounds like just the place for us sort of extroverted introverts!

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  3. Really pretty. Don't get the masking but really lovely.

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    1. Thank you! If I had not masked the top, when I sprayed the bottom half, the top would have gotten wet. If I'd stamped into that I wouldn't have gotten a clean top image before I pressed it into the water, and you wouldn't have recognized those as buildings.

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    2. So you masked the top, sprayed the bottom, then removed the mask and stamped the top? I was having trouble understanding this part as well. The card is stunning. I will be getting this set in the mail any day now. Cant wait to try out this technique! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. WOW!!!!!! Love your technique to create such an awesome card. Love the colours too.

    Jocelyn x

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  5. I just love this card! How did you hide the score line? Is that a piece of ribbon going across or is that the score line? It's kind of hard to tell.

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  6. WOW!!! Absolutely stunning! Thank you for sharing this awesome technique.

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  7. FAB card, Lydia! The colors are unexpected and wonderful for a cityscape and the technique is sooo cool. I haven't been receiving your blog posts for a while. So glad this one popped up "out of the blue." Hee! :)

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  8. Gorgeous, Lydia! Love the tech and the colors are perfect!

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  9. Beautiful card Lydia. I attempted it but I don't think I had correct watercolor paper. So I improvised. Here is a link to the card. I linked your SCS card and blog so please let me know if that is not ok.
    http://lifeonlaguna.blogspot.com/2014/07/watercolored-city.html

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  10. LOVE NYC, LOVE your card!!! Absolutely stunning! Now I HAVE to buy this set!

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  11. Super technique, just loved what you ended up with. I've got to give this a try, thanks so much for the inspiration

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  12. So loved this card. What a neat technique and something I've got to give a try to … thanks so much for the inspiration.

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