Don't be stressed - DISTRESS!

So, you had a rough day...your boss was annoying you all day long, you got home from work and the kids hadn't completed their homework and hadn't done any chores.

You get them fed, bathed and off to bed and now it's FINALLY your turn! But you're still so STRESSED you don't know WHERE to start. Well...don't get stressed, DISTRESS!!!

Now, of course, you need to be careful. We're dealing with sharp objects here...wouldn't want to cut yourself while you're trying to shred the edges of that paper with scissors.

Let's get started:

• For my card base, I've chosen a piece of Not Quite Navy Cardstock cut to 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" and folded at 4 1/4". As a rule, I don't distress my card base...but that's just me.  If you want to distress your card base, go to town!  After all...it's YOUR card! And really, it's just a little extra therapy - who doesn't need that?
• Next, you're going to want to choose your background Designer Series Paper, if you're using any.  For this card, I'm going to use a piece of Springtime Vintage Designer Series Paper.  True, a lot of this paper tends to lean towards the "girlie" side, but a couple of the designs are neutral enough to use on a card for your man. And that's what I'm making today. Cut it to the size you like (in this case, I used a piece that is 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and matted it on a piece of Pear Pizzazz cut to 4" x 5 1/4") and then take your scissors or cutter kit to the edges.  Rough it up as much as you like.
• Next, choose your stamp set - I chose "Countryside" because I'm in a watercolouring kind of mood. PLEASE don't be intimidated by watercolouring! Most of the Stampin' UP! stamps that are "designed" for watercolouring have the shadows added to the stamp. So, just add more colour to the shadows and VOILA! MASTERPIECE! As a side note, our watercolour paper is sized to fit as the second layer up from your card base.  Because I've already got two layers that are fairly close in size, I've trimmed it down just a bit. My watercolour paper is 3 1/4" x 4 3/4".
•   I started off by stamping the image using STAZ-ON ink.  This is a GREAT ink for watercolouring images as it won't run if it gets soaked!  I then coloured the truck using Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy.
• After the truck was coloured, I coloured in the apples.  I used Real Red and a LOT of water because I wanted an "antique" sort of look.
• Once I had the truck and apples coloured, I started in on the grass and sky.  This required a LOT of water and warped my paper.  BUT! Not to worry!  Once it's dry and I mat in on a piece of Not Quite Navy, it'll lie nice and flat.

While it's drying here are some Tips from the Heart:

• There are many options for watercolouring your images.  My favourite is to use an aqua painter and wet the tip of one of the watercolouring crayons and colour in my image.
• You can also use the ink from your ink pads. DON'T put your aqua painter directly onto your ink pad as this dilutes the colour. Here's what to do: Before opening your ink pad, gently squeeze it.  What this will do is transfer some of the ink from the pad onto the lid.  THIS is the ink you will use to colour your image. This is especially helpful if you don't have the watercolour crayon in the colour of your choice - for example, the "In Colours" are not available as a watercolour crayon.
• For a deeper, more intense colour, use a few drops of re-inker.  Put these into the lid of the matching colour ink pad and use the re-inker to colour your image.  The result will be a much deeper colour.
• If you need to cover a big area of your design, you can also colour using the watercolour crayon directly onto your paper. Then, use your aqua painter to spread it around. Caution: this will require a LOT of water to spread around, otherwise, you'll end up with lines from the crayon on your paper.

OK, now that our focal image is dry, here's the final product:

What do you think?

STAMPS: Countryside, Teeny Tiny Wishes

INK: Staz-ON, Not Quite Navy

PAPER: Pear Pizzazz and Not Quite Navy Cardstock; Watercolour Paper; Springtime Vintage DSP

ACCESSORIES: Cutter Kit, Aqua Painters, Watercolour Crayons, Punches

Happy Stampin'!