Watercolors for the Firework Lovers

When it comes to "real fireworks", I am not a fan. I know, it's like un-American, but we had a tragic incident last year with one of our pets and I am now a hater. BUT when it comes to the Firework Sprays...it is undying LOVE!

I tried the whole watercolor craze and let's just say my attempts have been less than pleasant. Horrid, in fact! Then I saw this awesome video on Imagine Crafts blog using my prized Firework Sprays and I knew I had to give it a fun little try!

My Supplies

This was so much fun and I don't think I got a single stained finger the whole time! Woo hoo! I started off by grabbing a scrap piece of watercolor paper and used a little squirt bottle full of water and generously squirted to my little heart's content onto the paper. It started to bow up a bit, that is perfectly fine. As a matter of fact, you WANT it to bow!

Next, I started with the lightest of the Fireworks; Angel Pink and I just started squirting a little here, a little there. I followed Angel Pink with Rose Bud and finally ended with Grape Jelly.

Nice and Wet

How pretty does that look?! It totally matches my foam place mat too! (Yes, I use foam place mats in lieu of a craft mat. It also gives me a FABULOUS stamping surface...LOVE)

See how it is bowing? That is GOOD! Do NOT tape down your water color paper. When it bows, the water starts to pool at the edges, all you have to do is take a paper towel and just wipe off the excess and set it to the side to dry while you clean up your mess with paper towels and wipes.

The best part about Fireworks is it doesn't take long to dry and it gives a nifty sparkly shine.

All dry!

Doesn't that just look STUNNING?! I honestly didn't even want to do anything with it since it was so pretty, but I saw this gorgeous card on Instagram and I wish I could find who posted it, but I haven't been able to track it back! But I did get the inspiration for the card from there.

I used the Love Expression Framelit from Stampin' Up! and placed it onto the paper and ran it through my Big Shot.

I love how it automatically gives it a natural ombre look to the love.

Then I popped out a few more!

For the card itself, I wanted to make sure everything was placed correctly so I laid it all out first, especially where the sentiment was concerned.

Once I had the layout where I wanted it to be, I broke out MISTI and placed the sentiment. I knew I wanted the sentiment DARK BLACK and I was going to have to stamp it multiple times to get it to the darkness I wanted. I stamped the Audrey Hepburn sentiment 4 different times onto the card to get it to really pop.

Then I used Glossy Accents to adhere the "love" cutouts onto the card. I was able to just line the backside with the Glossy Accents and it dried clear with no one the wiser!

The card was originally quite plain so Miss Kaitlyn decided we needed to add a couple of hearts to the card, especially since we had some of that gorgeous Watercolor Fireworks Paper left! So we punched out the hearts and placed a bit of foam tape behind them and placed them on the card!

Now we have a fun and simple card with a fabulous no watercolor background!

Here are a couple of other cards I have made using this same technique.