I love this fish bowl

Jun 25, 2013 | Embossing, In Colors, Tags, Watercoloring | 0 comments

I love this fish bowl stamp (Fishin’ Around) in the new Stampin’ Up! catalog!  I think it is so cute!  And I had it on my first order along with the new In-Colors which are so beachy feeling that I decided they were the perfect colors for the fish bowl.  Last week we were at the beach and I had one day alone in the condo and I spent part of that time playing with this stamp and these colors.  I actually made this project earlier for my In-Color Hands On class (right before I left for the beach trip) and loved the project so much I wanted to make something for convention that used this stamp.  So I made a whole stack of these and I thought I would share the “steps” with you on how I water colored my fish bowls.

Wait – here is the finished project from my class –

Fish Bowl treats

Would these be so cute to send to camp or school with your kids!  Anyway so here is what I did – I took pictures of each step so you can see the bowl come to “life”.  First use Watercolor Paper – it works the best for watercoloring.  Stamp the fish bowl image in VersaMark ink and cover with Black Embossing powder and heat set with the heat tool. The raised embossing gives you little wells to water color within.

I started with the Baked Brown Sugar color – squeeze your ink pad a little before opening it and it gives you a little palette in the lid that you can dip the aqua painter into.  The Baked Brown Sugar is the perfect color for sand!  Remember load your brush and touch down where you want the darkest color, as you brush out the color will lighten up.

I also used the Baked Brown Sugar for the treasure chest.  Next I used Crisp Cantaloupe for my fish – body and faces.

To add some dimension to the fish add the Strawberry Slush to give some darker coloring to the tails and fins. When you are watercoloring its ok to leave touches of the white space so don’t worry about covering every little section – you want the variations of the color.

For the bubbles I used the Pistachio Pudding ink – just a tiny dot inside each of the bubbles.  And you could use it for the jewels in the treasure chest (emeralds) – or use the Strawberry Slush if you want rubies.

Now add the water using the Coastal Cabana – just the perfect color!  I started with darker areas under the waves and under the fish and along the little ripples in the water.  And then lightened out from there.  I also added the Coastal Cabana to the rim of the fish bowl – that may not be easy to see though.

Let it all dry.  To finish I punched the fish bowl out with my circle punch ( I think it was the 2″ punch – I don’t have it right in front of me to check).  And finally I added a dot of Crystal Effects to each of the bubbles.  Let those dry for a hour or so.

I think it is so cute!  I hope you like it too.

To finish the project for my class we put some gold fish in a ziploc bag and punched a hole through the top – added some Calypso Coral Bakers Twine (it works fine with the Crisp Cantaloupe color) and tied on the fish bowl tag and another little tag that says “just for fun”.   here is the finished project one more time.

Fish Bowl treats – Monika Davis

Enjoy your day!