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. A gorgeous card! Live the design & the stunning colors! Thanks for showing how the colors look on light cardstock also. I think every cardmaker should have a set of these awesome colors!

  2. I just bought this Hummingbird set yesterday and I can’t wait to try this. I love how those paints show up on dark cardstock. Your card is beautiful.

  3. These gem colours are fabulous. I love your arrangement of the florals and the tip for creating a sentiment outline. Thanks for the inspiration.

  4. This is so beàutiful Nina. I love those gem tones,just stunning. As always your card is amazingly well done and the PPP stamps and dies are great.

  5. Stunning card! I really like these water colors on the dark cardstock more than on the light cardstock just like you said the colors are very Vivid.

  6. Such a beautiful card, Nina-Marie! I love the look of those watercolors on the dark cardstock – I wouldn’t even bother using them on white cardstock.

  7. Fantastic tutorial and card, Nina-Marie! What a difference between the Zig Gem watercolors on the white cardstock compared to the dark! Looking forward to trying this out! ?

  8. Absolutely loved this gorgeous video and card. Navy is my favorite too and now I will have to look into these paints. The idea of outlining the sentiment was genius, never would have thought of that.. once again brilliant video and card.

  9. Oh my, this is absolutely stunning, love the blue base instead of black and those watercolours are gorgeous! A new product to me and one that has gone to the top of my wish list.

  10. What a super pretty card! LOVE the colors and all the different images. Oh and the watercolors….yep, just something else that I now NEED :-D

  11. I am a sucker for shimmery water colours/pencils/markers – these are now on my wish list! They are gorgeous on dark colours and I love your use of the blue card stock!

  12. This is a gorgeous card! I love the navy cardstock and the gem paints are beautiful on it! I always enjoy the tutorials!

  13. What a lovely reminder to use my metallic paints (I have some finetecs, but same idea). And I can’t think of a more perfect image to use metallics on than a hummingbird. These turned out so pretty. Thanks for sharing!

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