Have you seen Colorado Craft Company’s August Big & Bold Release? I gotta admit, when I saw it, I was CRAZY ready to get it in my hands. Especially the Pineapple. The Pineapple had me at ALOHA! I played with all four fruit stamps sets, and have lots pictures and details to share. (I also have information on a sales code–ANGELICA10–at the bottom of this post.) Let’s get started!

Like I mentioned, Aloha Pineapple stole my heart. I mean, seriously, how fun is this?? I was recently in Hawaii, and enjoyed a beautiful fireworks show on the beach. I wanted to bring that memory to this card. I picked Daniel Smith watercolors as my medium. I started with stamping the image onto Fabriano Artistico Extra White Watercolor paper with Antique Linen Distress Ink. I painted the pineapple in three layers.

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I started with the background. I wet around the pineapple edges, and dropped in light amounts of Lemon Yellow, Quinacridone Rose, and Phthalo Turquoise. For the pineapple, I started with a light coat of Lemon Yellow on the bottom, and Sap green/Rich Green Gold on the top. The second layer for the bottom was Quinacridone Purple mixed with Lemon Yellow, and a few spots of Quinacridone Rose. The second layer for the top was Sap Green and Deep Sap Green. My last layer was kind of all over the place. I just started dropping color in where I thought it would look good. I used several different colors- Nickel Azo Yellow, Quinacridone Gold, and Burnt Umber on the bottom, and one last layer of the same greens on the top. I kept the highlighted areas pretty white.

Once I finished, I splattered the paper with leftover paint, then trimmed the panel to fit an A2 card base. I stamped and white heat-embossed a sentiment from the set onto pink card stock, and attached it to the card.

All of my cards were painted in the same fashion, three layers, keeping in mind where I wanted my highlighted areas. I also splattered paint on all of them, to keep a cohesive feel to them.

Hugs And Pears… I just can’t get over these stamps! I am a kitchen girl. I can prep, cook, and eat all day. And pears, pears put me back in my grandmother’s kitchen. I loved her pear tree, and I loved watching her work her magic with the picked pears. I tried to capture the colors and textures when painting this pear. The pear stamp has a leaf on the stem, which I decided to leave off. I masked the leaf with washi tape before inking the stamp, then removed the mask and stamped the image.

For the colors of this pear, I followed a color palette made by Anna Mason. To get the muted colors for the pear, I neutralized bright colors with contrary colors. I used Phthalo Green Yellow Shade, mixed with Lemon Yellow, for my first light base. I added Burnt Sienna for more depth, and Payne’s Grey for darkest areas. I finished the panel with splatter, trimmed it, and attached it to a card base. The sentiment was die-cut with the coordinating die from the Hugs And Pears Die Set.

Next up, I have a fun Big & Bold Avocado Love card.

I stamped the avocado with Antique Linen, again masking off the leaf on the stamp for a very clean and simple look. I painted the background first, just like I did with the Pineapple. I added a light wash of green to the avocado for my first layer, then dabbed the rest of the colors with a #6 round brush. Literally. I just bounced my brush all over the paper. I didn’t keep track what colors I used, I just dabbed whatever color I thought was right. I dried each layer with my heat tool before starting the next. This was the best way I could think of to add texture.

The sentiment is heat-embossed onto black card stock, then die cut with the coordinating die from the Avocado Love Die Set.

My last two cards feature the stunning Lemon Zest stamp set. I pretty much made the same card twice, just displayed the lemon differently.

I inked the stamp with Antique Linen, then used a baby wipe to gently dab ink off the leaves before stamping. I didn’t want to be committed to too much detail in the leaves, so this was the best way for me to soften the lines. The lemon was painted with Lemon Yellow, Nickel Azo Yellow, Quinacridone Gold, and Quinacridone Purple; the leaves with Sap Green, and Deep Sap Green.

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I finished the card with splatter, and a attached it to a card base. I used the coordinating die from the Lemon Zest Dies to die-cut the white heat-embossed sentiment.

I painted a second lemon, and trimmed it. I mounted it onto black card stock, and attached it to a card base.

Thanks so much for joining me today! I know this was a pretty long blog, and I hope I was able to pass on some ideas and inspiration. These stamp sets are truly amazing, especially for watercoloring. I found that their big size gave me a lot of room to practice with shading and textures.

And remember, if you stop by the Colorado Craft Company shop, be sure to use my code ANGELICA10 to get 10% off today and tomorrow. (August 21 & 22, 2020)