Drawing without an eraser

Hello everyone!  It is Saturday and there is a new CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration challenge up. Here's the case file: 

My layout:

I made a simple watercolour background similar to the one in the inspiration image. I liked the white part at the top in the latter and imitated that by adding some clean water along the edge which made the watercolour paint move out into that water creating a soft edge. From the evidence items I used: branch, labels, and bird. From the testimony items, I was inspired by the food theme to scrap this photo of my son the first morning before he went to his new school, with the lunch bag that he had picked for himself. I typed a whole lot of journaling and placed it behind the layout.

I used some brand new Simon Says Stamp Exclusive dies and stamps on the layout, mainly from the This is the Life collection. The sun and tiny heart were stamped with Archival Ink and cut out with the coordinating dies. I love this sweet Cloud Bank die and it was a great home for some Tim Holtz rub-ons words. The background was stamped with different Tim Holtz stamps, some of them with Distress Ink and some were white embossed. 

The Bird Branch is a Sizzix die by Tim Holtz, which I have used quite a few times. I die cut it from white mat board and inked the branch with Tree Branch ink. The bird was cut off from the branch and painted with watercolours.

I wanted the paint brushes to both look a little like trees on the hill. They were stamped with Jet Black ink, coloured with Inktense pencils and then I added some water with a brush, turning the pencils into watercolour.

I love this quote stamp by Tim Holtz and thought it was perfect for the theme. It was stamped with Jet Black ink and coloured with Inktense pencils, again adding water to turn them into watercolour.

The frames come from the new Simon Set Stamp Frames set, which die cuts a whole bunch of labels and frames. I particularly like these thin frames.  

In the foreground, I stamped Tim Holtz flowers, first with Shabby Shutters ink (misting the stamp with water before stamping) and then again white embossed. Wait until the Distress Ink is totally dry before doing the heat embossing, otherwise the embossing powder will stick to the ink.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

Surfaces: Daler & Rowney watercolour paper; Sizzix Little Sizzles White Mat Board; Neenah Smooth Solar White

Dies: Sizzix: Bird Branch; Simon Says Stamp: Cloud Bank, Frames, Road Trip, Tall Flowers

Stamps: Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz: Typography, Nature's Moment, Artful Tools, Just Thoughts, Stuff to Says; Simon Says Stamp: Road Trip

Ink: Ranger Archival Ink: Jet Black, Tree Branch, Vermillion, Pale Ochre; Distress Ink: Shabby Shutters, Salty Ocean

Paint: Daler & Rowney watercolours

Pencils: Derwent Inktense

Embossing powder: Ranger White

Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Label Letters, Index Labels, Botanicals Remnant Rubs, Life Quotes Remnant Rubs