Leprechauns and Watercoloring

I've had several e-mails requesting the leprechaun instructions, so just in the nick of time...here you go!

Punches used are the Key Tag, 1 3/8" Circle, Word Window, 1/2" Circle, 1/4" circle, 5 Petal Flower, Circle Scallop and a 1/4" strip of black cardstock. Cut the key tag in half for the hat. The rest is pretty self explainatory.

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My water coloring technique.

This is just what works for me. I use the same principals with watercolor crayons, pencils and pads or re-inkers. This example is done with watercolor crayons.

Click on each picture for a close up view.

LEFT: Scribble Creamy Caramel all over, leaving a small spot in the middle of the vase that will remain white. This lays down a nice foundation for the colors.

RIGHT: Blend with a Blender Pen in a circular motion all over. Make sure your blender pen is nice and fresh, dryish ones are yucky!

LEFT: Scribble flower colors and leaf colors on. I used Brocade Blue, Perfect Plum and Garden Green.

RIGHT: Blend all colors in a circular motion. Blend all the blue, clean the pen, blend all the purple, clean the pen, etc.

Sorry this one is blurry.

LEFT: Add darker colors. I simply drew a circle around each center. I used Night Of Navy for the blue, Elegant Eggplant for the purple and Always Artichoke for the green. Add Chocolate Chip to the left, right, under the foliage and to the inside lip of the vase.
RIGHT: On the flowers, blend the darker color from the center to the outside, stop short of reaching the outside so you leave some of the original color showing. Make it nice and dark and intense in color. Blend the Chocolate Chip in a circular motion towards the center of the vase. Make sure to leave the white spot for highlighting in the center.

LEFT: Add little bits of More Mustard to the centers of the flowers and here and there to a few petals and leaves. Further deepen the centers with a hint of Chocolate Chip. Add additional Chocolate Chip to the vase to make it nice and defined. Finally, add an outline of Basic Gray to the entire image.
RIGHT: Blend, blend, blend. Enjoy!