Studio Monday with Nina-Marie: Zig Gem Watercolors on Dark Cardstock

Hello crafters! I am so thrilled to be back with a new video for you! I’ve got some super-fun Studio Monday videos planned for the next couple months and cannot wait to share them all with you!!

Studio Monday with Nina-Marie

Today’s tutorial is going to touch on watercoloring with the oh-so-beautiful Zig Gems palette. Have you gotten to see or play with these new watercolors? The metallic jewel-tone colors are simply stunning, especially when you use them on dark colored cardstocks.

You could easily do this technique on black cardstock, but I fully admit that I am a color-girl! So in my case, I opted for Simon’s Soft Navy as my base cardstock.

These watercolors perform beautifully on darker surfaces; the vibrancy literally jumps off the paper! When you use these Zig Gem colors on lighter paper, you get a much softer and almost pastel effect. The photo below demonstrates the difference between dark and light surfaces. I personally really like the intensity you get with dark paper!

My card features images from a couple of new Pretty Pink Posh stamp sets; Pretty Petunias and Hummingbird Thanks. Each image is white heat embossed onto Soft Navy cardstock and then colored with the Zig Gem watercolors.

When I watercolor onto cardstock like this, I make sure to use as little water as possible so that I do not over saturate the paper. I also purposely did the white embossed outlines for two reasons:

  1. The colors will stay within the areas in which I place them because of the raised, embossed outlines. This makes the watercolor process easier since you don’t have to worry about adding color next to a wet area.
  2. White embossing shows up so much better on the dark paper, rather than a plain stamped image. It also gives each image an extra bit of “pop”!

 

Once the images were colored and dry, I cut each one out with the coordinating dies for each stamp set. I then began to layer them onto the navy card base with foam tape.

There is also a die cut sentiment featured on the card, which is also from Pretty Pink Posh! This stunning script Thank You was cut from one of my a gold satin-foil cardstock from Tonic Studios. You’ll also notice that there is an outline around the sentiment; if you watch the video I created for this card, you’ll see how I did that.

Finally, I added Nuvo Drops in the Gloss White color around my images to tie in a bit more of the white and create some depth for my scene.

I hope you will watch the video to see this card come together, as well as get a close up look at the beautiful Zig Gem watercolors! If you don’t have this palette of pretty jewel toned colors, you can find it here. I think you’ll have fun incorporating these watercolors into your upcoming projects!

Thanks so much for visiting with me today; I’ll be back next week with a brand new Studio Monday tutorial!

 

WATCH THE VIDEO


 

SUPPLIES

Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi GEM COLORS…
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Pretty Pink Posh HUMMINGBIRD THANKS…
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Pretty Pink Posh HUMMINGBIRD THANKS…
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Pretty Pink Posh PRETTY PETUNIAS…
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Pretty Pink Posh PRETTY PETUNIAS DIE Set
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Pretty Pink Posh THANK YOU SCRIPT DIE…
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Royal Langnickel ZEN WATERCOLOR BRUSH…
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Tonic GLOSS WHITE Nuvo Crystal Drops…
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Brutus Monroe ALABASTER Ultra Fine…
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Simon Says Stamp Embossing Ink Pad…
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Inkadinkado EMBOSSING MAGIC Powder…
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Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100# SOFT…
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Tonic HONEY GOLD Mirror Card Satin…
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Simon Says Stamp VELLUM SSSVEL12
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EK Success CUTTER BEE Scissors EKCB01
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Spellbinders PLATINUM 6 Die Cutting…
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MINI MISTI PRECISION STAMPER Stamping…
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3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE…
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Precision Heat Embossing Tool Gun…
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Tim Holtz Tonic Craft SHEARS 9.5…
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Tombow Mono LIGHT TOUCH PLASTIC…
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  1. I love how vibrant the watercolors are on the dark cardstock. Thanks for the inspiration and great job on the beautiful card!

  2. OMG!! Those watercolors are amazing! I love how they look on dark paper. Beautiful card I love the colors ❤

  3. What vibrant and gorgeous card! I love this technique and I can see I just might have to purchase these beautiful metallic paints. So pretty on dark Cardstock. Thanks for the inspiration.

  4. Love the idea of tracing the die to create an outline, love that idea!!! I love the card and the beautiful colors!! I love Finetec and the colors that they have, great company and watercolors! Thanks for sharing .

  5. Thank you for demonstrating those gem colour watercolours. They pack a punch! Love your card :). Pretty Pink Posh hit it out of the park with those 2 stamp sets.

  6. So beautiful! Love the colours on the navy cardstock. And thanks for the tip about creating a “shadow” for my die cut sentiments! I’d never thought about doing that.

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