Watercolour Lighthouse Scene Card Video Tutorial

Hi there!

Today I'm going to be sharing another video tutorial with you, this time making a card featuring a watercolour scene with a lighthouse. This kind of card is perfect for a man or woman and can be adapted to suit many occasions. The video is just below, then you'll find more information further in the blog post.

This card isn't too difficult to make, since watercolours are very forgiving to work with and these stamps do most of the hard work for you.

--- Supplies Used ---

--- Tools ---

# Mini ink blending tool

# Number 9 round brush in gold taklon from a set

# Detail brush in 5/0 from a set

# Soft old paintbrush (from this great set)

# Small acrylic blocks

# Homemade stamp positioning tool

# Paper distressing or edge crimping tool

# Paper guillotine

# 1-2-3 punch board from We R Memory Keepers

# Tape runner

# Scissors

# Stamp set from Creative Stamping Issue 43 (still available online)

# Blue artist's masking tape

--- Colouring Supplies ---

# Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolour paints (I'm using the 45 half pan studio set) in:

- Cerulean Blue (for the sky)

- Intense Blue (for the sea)

- Raw Sienna (for the land)

- Burnt Umber (for shadows and lighthouse stripes)

- Vandyke Brown (for deep shadows and details)

# Ranger Archival Ink pad in Sepia

# Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo

# Spectrum Noir alcohol marker in TB2 (from the Blues pack)

# Faber Castell PITT Marker in Raw Umber (from the Autumn Colours set)

# PearlEx powder in White Pearl and Antique Silver (from the large set)

# Grey colouring pencil (from this blendable set from Ryman)

# VersaMarker

--- Cardstock ---

# 300 gsm super smooth white card from Samuel Taylors

# 280 gsm kraft card from Papermania

# Trendy Blue Lifestyle 12"x12" paper pad

The card base is an A6 card made from 280 gsm kraft cardstock. A white panel is cut from 300 gsm card to be 1/2" smaller than the front of the card in both dimensions. The lighthouse and sentiment were stamped in sepia archival ink. The ink choice is important; it needs to be permanent so it doesn't run when the water hits it. The scene was then extended across the card using the PITT pen and the horizon sketched in with the alcohol marker. The panel is taped to a sketch board using artist's masking tape, which is first made low tack by sticking to the back of my arm. I've had bad experience in the past! This was stuck to leave just a very thin white border around the image. Sticking this to the board means the card will warp a lot less when lots of water is applied to it.

To begin with, the sky is painted in Cerulean Blue with swirly motions using the large round brush. This provides texture to the sky; it's not often you see a perfect blue sky at the English seaside, or on a vintage postcard! Once this was filled in, I moved on to painting the foreground with Raw Sienna. Once a base layer was applied, I filled in the sea with Intense Blue, making sure the colour was intense on the horizon. I added a bit of shadow to the left of the lighthouse to make it look as though there is high ground off to the side casting a large shadow out to sea.

These colours are not true to real life, but make a nice muted colour palette for a vintage-inspired card such as this. It looks as though a postcard has faded to tones of brown, yet the sea and sky have remained very blue! I added a bay using an intense application of Raw Sienna and details to the lighthouse and ground using Burnt Umber and Vandyke Brown, with the detail brush. I went around the edges of the card using an ink blending tool with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. This really complemented the vintage postcard look, and added a slight vignette effect.

To make the edges look more distressed, and provide a frame for the image on the card base, I ran around the edge of the card with a distressing tool. Snipping into the edges in places and peeling it back make the panel look torn and old. I then went around the edges with a heavy application of Vintage Photo Distress Ink to really create a dramatic frame and ensure no white card was showing where the edges had been eroded away. I applied the panel to the front of the card using lots of tape adhesive, and left it at that.

For the inside of the card, I stamped the sentiment 'the world is your oyster' in sepia archival ink and a pearl in an oyster in the top half. To add a little extra surprise to the inside, I used PearlEx mica powders in White Pearl on the pearl itself and Antique Silver on the shell. This was applied using a VersaMarker pen and a soft brush. The inside of the shell was finished with a grey coloured pencil.

That image really catches the light! To make a matching envelope, I used a sheet of patterned paper, cut to 8 " 3/8 square and using the We R Memory Keepers 1-2-3 punch board, made an envelope for an A6 card, punching at 3" 1/2. The envelope is held together with tape adhesive.

The stamp set has this rope border section which I stamped continuously around the front of the envelope. Since it wasn't designed for this size, I improvised by removing ink from the stamp with a baby wipe and filling in the leftover sections. The result isn't perfect, but it does look more interesting than a plain envelope! To finish it off, I wrapped the envelope in natural string four times and tied it with a simple knot. This holds the envelope together if you plan on hand delivering it, too.

I really hope you liked this card and found some inspiration from this post. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. If you haven't already, please watch the accompanying video tutorial over on YouTube. If you like it, please don't forget to hit the thumbs up button below the video, and you can subscribe to my channel and blog for updates on future tutorials. I'm hoping to post another this weekend. In the meantime, you can check out the links on the left hand side of the blog to find me on social media.

Thanks for reading this all the way to the end!

Until next time,

Amy x