Deck the Halls with Inky Paws Blog Hop

Hello everyone! Thanks so much for stopping by today, as we are celebrating the annual Deck Halls with Inky Paws blog hop for Newton’s Nook Designs!

If you are looking for my video tutorial featuring Whimsy Stamps, please visit this link here. 

The hop is comprised of many fabulous artists that you will want to visit, so be sure to read all the way to the bottom of the post to head on to the next stop in today’s blog hop.

For my card, I’ve chosen to work with our new Whispering Pines stamp set. I just love the watercolor effect you can achieve by simply stamping it onto your paper; but for this card, I wanted to do some real watercolor stamping.

I’ve put together a video for you showing how I created this card step-by-step, so be sure to watch the video below or over on my YouTube channel!

Watercolor stamping is a really fun technique to add a whole new feel to your stamped images. A couple of things to remember when doing watercolor stamping are:

• The Defined Line: the more water you use, the less defined your images will be; for all of my watercolor stamping, I spritzed my inked images with only one or two mists of water at about 10-12 inches away from the stamp. This helps keep the images more defined and true.

• Blending: if you use distress inks like I do here in this card, remember that they will react with water, even after they are dry. This is especially noticeable when I watercolored the sky. In this particular case, I wanted the green from the trees to blend a little with the blue from the sky. However, if you do not like that look, you might want to either do some masking or stamp the trees initially with a light colored ink, watercolor the sky and then stamp the green trees over top the light ink previously stamped.

• Build Layers: layers of watercolor has many benefits. Some of my most favorite reasons to add multiple layers of watercolor are to enhance color saturation, build depth, create a mixture of hard and soft lines, and to add shading. When you layer color on top of each other, you not only create a more interesting project, but it also allows you to add a more realistic and dimensional feel to your card as well.

MORE INSPIRATION, A SPECIAL RELEASE & A GIVEAWAY

Newton’s Nook Designs is also having a Bonus Stamp Release Today! Make sure you check out their NEW Whispering Pines stamp set. This set is up for sale in their online shop starting today!

We will be choosing two lucky winners to win a $10 store credit for Newton’s Nook Designs online shop! 

To enter, just leave comments on the Design Team Member and Guest blogs (see list below)! Two winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the blog hop. Make sure to check out each of their blogs and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning!

You have until Sunday, December 6th at 9 pm CST to comment  — winners will be announced on the NND blog on Monday, December 7th.

Newton’s Nook Designs
Sandy Allnock
Amy Kolling
Stephanie Klauck
Virgina Lu
Laura Sterckx
Tatiana Trafimovich
Annette Allen
Lydia Evans
Larissa Heskett
Samantha Mann
Crafty Math-Chick
Jess Gerstner
Stephanie Muzzulin
Danielle Pandeline
Nina-Marie Trapani — that’s me!! :)
Kimberly Rendino
Yukari Yoshioka

PRODUCTS

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Newton’s Nook Designs HOLIDAY WISHES Clear Stamp Set 20131003[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Simon Says Stamp STITCHED RECTANGLES Wafer Dies sssd111455 In Stitches[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad SALTY OCEAN Ranger Summer TIM35015[/one_fifth][one_fifth_last]
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MERMAID LAGOON Ranger TIM43256[/one_fifth_last]

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Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad BLUEPRINT SKETCH Ranger TIM43195[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MILLED LAVENDER Ranger TIM20219[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad WILTED VIOLET Ranger TIM43263[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad FOREST MOSS Ranger TIM27133[/one_fifth][one_fifth_last]
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad SHABBY SHUTTERS Ranger TIM21490[/one_fifth_last]

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Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad PEELED PAINT Ranger TIM20233[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Finetec MICA WATERCOLOR Paint 6 Set M600[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Ranger Perfect Pearls PERFECT PEARL Individual Pigment Powder PPP17714[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Pretty Pink Posh 4MM CLEAR DROPLETS (small)[/one_fifth][one_fifth_last]
Pretty Pink Posh 6MM CLEAR DROPLETS (medium)[/one_fifth_last]

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Tsukineko Versamark EMBOSS INK PAD Watermark VM-001[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Ranger Embossing Powder SILVER EPJ37361[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Tsukineko VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad VF-82[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Ranger Inkssentials GLOSSY ACCENTS Glue Dimensional Adhesive GAC17042[/one_fifth][one_fifth_last]
Ranger ENAMEL ACCENTS Dimensional Glaze Inkssentials GAC27355[/one_fifth_last]

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WHITE FUN FOAM 12 Pack 118711 9 x 12[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
MISTI PRECISION STAMPER Stamping Tool Kit [/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE Gray And White 660425[/one_fifth][one_fifth]
Scor-Tape 1/2 Inch Crafting Tape[/one_fifth][one_fifth_last]
Scor-Tape 1/4 Inch Crafting Tape[/one_fifth_last]