Celebration of Color

April Showers bring May Flowers - or so the old adage goes! No time of year makes me more aware of color than these wonderful weeks of spring. Here at the Pursuit of Craftyness, we decided to take a cue from Mother Nature and explore the great big world of color. All month long, the POC designers will bring you their take on a specific color medium. As always, we would love to see what you create, so leave a link in the comments where we can see your piece. We're looking forward to seeing what you create during our Celebration of Color.

If there are two things that I find hold true in crafting, it is that (1)everything old is eventually new again and (2)good tools are worth investing in. That being said, I'm going to kick off the Celebration of Color with a look at Twinkling H20s.

I've had my Twinkling H20s for about six years now - and they're just as great as the day I got them! They'll last for as long as you want to keep them, so they're a worthy investment. If you haven't been into crafting for very long, you might not be sure what these are; I've seen quite a few questions on message boards lately regarding them. Twinkling H20s are wonderful little pots of shimmery watercolors made by LuminArte, Inc.. They come in a wide range of colors that add a gorgeous punch of shimmery color to your craft projects. I mainly use them with stamped images, but they're certainly not limited to that niche.

This is a picture of how I keep mine. I actually have them in old Sizzix cases so that I can stack them. (I fit about 16 of the pots in a red-size case.) I like to keep them upside down so that I can see the colors.

So, where to start? Here's my favorite tip for success with using these with stamps if I know that I want to 'stay in the lines': emboss your stamped image!


This is a fun cupcake stamp from Lockhart Stamp Company. I love how their stamps are so detailed, whimsical and begging to be colored! Here I used Onyx Black Versafine. Tsukineko doesn't say that this ink is able to be embossed, but I find that if I sprinkle embossing powder (EP) right away, it gives the nicest, small amount of embossing - perfect for what I want in this case. By embossing the image with clear EP, I create little 'walls' that my watercolor will want to stay within.

Now I'm ready to paint! I decide on my color scheme and use my mister to add water to each pot.


The great thing about Twinkling H20s is that you don't have to be an artist to make them look good. Just start watercoloring like when you were a kid! I prefer a small bristled brush (because I am NOT an artist, and find I get the best control with a small brush. Here I use a Loew-Cornell size 4 round brush.)



I wanted to show you this out-of-focus picture to let you see just how shimmery these are. They can be tough to photograph, but your recipient will be blown away at just how shimmery they are in person! You can also see in this picture that I have used some Liquid Applique (Marvy Uchida) for the frosting. (If you're not familiar with this product, it comes in a pen form, goes on as a liquid and puffs up when you heat it with your embossing gun. Fun texture for small areas!) Because of the qualities of Twinkling H20s, you're not limited to painting on paper; you can see in the final picture that I painted the Liquid Applique, too. Shimmer and texture - what more can a Crafty Gal ask for?!



There it is, all finished and put together! I went with a simple card layout because I really want to make this painted image to stand out - with all the care you put into it, you want it to be the center of attention, right?

{Supply List - Twinkling H20s (Key Lime, Blue Ice, Sweet Lavendar, Sunburst, Ruby Red) Luminarte, Inc.; Cardstock (Sunflower Medium, Intense Kiwi) Prism; Stamps (Three Cupcakes, Happy Cupcake Day) Lockhart Stamp Company; Dies (Classic Rectangle Nestabilities, Ribbon Tags Trio) Spellbinders; Ink (Onyx Black Versafine) Tsukineko, (Colorbox Lime Green Fluid Chalk) Clearsnap; Embossing folder (Cuttlebug Swiss Dots) Provo Craft; Texture (Liquid Applique) Marvy Uchida; Ribbon (pink with yellow stitching) Creative Impressions}

Interested in other ways to use Twinkling H20s? I have two valuable resources for you. The first is the Luminarte website . The second is a fun,easy tutorial that my friend Heather Nichol's did for Papertrey Ink. You can view Heather's post on her blog here.

I hope this has inspired you to either pull out your old Twinkling H20s or to try something new. It's an incomparable color medium that packs a shimmery punch to all of your projects. Have fun experimenting with it.

And last, but certainly not least, Sherry asked me to let you know that Parker and Emma's Mom won the RAK! :) CONGRATS! Here's her comment:

" Parker and Emma's Mom said...
http://hansenhappenings.blogspot.com/2008/04/april-showers-bring-may-flowers.html

Here is something I made this month to try to spruce up my scrap space a bit.

Love the blog!"

So, our Crafty friend, just be on the lookout for an email from Sherry for your info!

Thanks for stopping by the Pursuit of Craftyness today (and for reading through my first post!). Make sure to stop back and be amazed at the rest of the team's interpretations of May's Celebration of Color.

Be well. ~ Jenn