Watercolor and chalks

I have been looking at Jennifer McGuire's blog here. She has been doing lots of card with a watercolor technique. I love her cards and wanted to try it too. I looked through my dies and thought that this dragonfly might be a good one to try it on. The first card was not done with any cardstock behind the watercolored papers and I thought that after I made it, that the 2nd card I would make would need that. The dragonfly was cut out and colored with water color markers and then sprayed with water. After that dried, I used stickles and let that dry then glued it back into the background. The background was inked with ink pads and water color markers. My markers left streaks which I did not like. I guess I will need the new distress markers if I want it to look as pretty as Jennifer's cards. I did not do the Happy Birthday with cardstock behind it at first but after doing my 2nd card, I changed that. I did not put the black on the dragonfly with a sharpie at first but again, after my 2nd card, I decided to do the black after the card was finished and I like it better. It was just too pale without it.

This is my second card and it is done with chalks and then sprayed with a sealer so that the chalks will not rub off. I put several colors of blue on the background and then rubbed it with the wet paper towel that I used for the first card. After I cut out the dragonfly, I embossed it and then colored it with a black sharpie and then the chalks and stickles. I put several colors of cardstock behind the background and I like that and the chalks better. It is not as messy and easier to do also.

This card will be used for a card swap for my online art group, An Affair With Art (AAWA).