Fusion - Flowers

It's time for a new challenge from Fusion!  This week we've got a great sketch and some floral inspiration.  I opted to go with the flowers.

I don't have to state the obvious but I will just say that watercoloring is not my forte.  However, when I saw this inspiration photo I thought maybe I'd give it a go - especially since I had no other idea for those flowing flowers in the inspiration photo other than this wildflower stamp.  Since the stamp is a solid image I splashed down some colors behind it, added a raised sentiment, and I was done.  I also used the sketch from Fab Friday, turned clockwise.

Thanks for stopping by!  Join us at Fusion and be inspired by the sketch, the photo, or both!

Supplies
Stamps:  Going to Seed (Woodware); Easy Expressions Birthday (The Ton)
Paper:  Pure Ivory (Gina K); Desert Storm (Neenah); Distress Watercolor (Tim Holtz)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor
Accessories:  Easy Expressions Birthday die (The Ton)

Freshly Made Sketches 334

I am happy to say that spring has finally sprung around here!  The sun is out, the temperatures are in the 60's, and even though it is raining today I will not complain one bit.  I've been waiting forever, it seems, for the wet, cold, and blustery weather to amscray and I think it finally has!  All this weather goodness comes just in time for a brand new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Amy and my magic ball tells me that you are going to lover her sketch!

Since the weather put me in a good mood I decided to be a little adventurous with my card this week.  I broke out my lovely watercolors and using the colors of the Sunday Stamps challenge splashed some color around.  The result is not half bad!  The texture of the watercolor paper made getting a good impression of the sentiment stamp a bit difficult but I kind of like how it seems a bit distressed.  I added some enamel dots for a bit more texture and just before I photographed this I went over the watercolor layer with Wink of Stella for a bit of pizzazz.  You'll have to trust me on that one because I'm sure you can't see it in the photo!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow teamies at Freshly Made Sketches have made some gorgeous cards this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Little Notes (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Dark Indigo (Papertrey Ink); Distress Watercolor (Tim Holtz)
Ink:  Dark Indigo (Papertrey Ink); Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors
Accessories:  enamel dots (My Mind's Eye); Wink of Stella

Tag You're It 51

I was shocked to find that I had some extra crafty time earlier this week so I made a tag for the latest challenge at Tag You're It.  There's still a week to go, so plenty of time to play along!

I tried to stay true to Donna's floral theme, watercolored background, use of washi tape, and enamel dots.  It is well documented here that I am not very good with watercolors but I decided to try my hand at them because I was just creating a splashy background for the flower.  No need to be precise with my coloring and if I messed it up I was prepared to call it artistic license.  To my shock, the background came out pretty good.  So I decided to jazz things up a bit by going over the tag with my brand-spankin'-new Gansai Tambi Starry watercolors.

Firstly, these shimmery watercolors are the bomb!  The photo here does not do the shimmer justice AT ALL so you will have to trust me that this looks amazing in real life.  Secondly, the picture seems to make it seem that the shimmer layer obscures my totally fabulous watercolor splash behind the flower.  Not true.  In real life the shimmer really enhances it.  And lastly I stamped the flower and leaves with my brand-spankin'-new Altenew inks.  I stamped the images onto SU Whisper White which, because of that coating it has allows the ink to sit on top of the paper rather than be absorbed into it.  Some paper is a little too porous for my taste and when it absorbs the ink it looks too dark and often the image looks splotchy.  I am quite impressed with these inks.  The color is beautiful and the images are very crisp.  So far I'm giving these inks an A+!

How fortunate that the current challenge at AAA Cards is to make a tag, so I'm going to add this there as well.

We are making a little change at Tag You're It.  Each challenge we will have a featured designer who will create the tag inspiration for our challenge.  How exciting!  This time around our designer is alumna Donna Mikasa!  You'll never know what to expect so make sure you visit and visit often!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Delightful Dahlia Additions (Papertrey Ink); Hand Lettered Hello (WPlus9)
Paper:  Distress Watercolor; Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Grapevine, Forest Glades, Frayed Leaf (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine); Gansai Tambi Watercolors, Gansai Tambi Starry Colors (Kuretake)
Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Rose Red seam binding ribbon (SU); enamel dots (Doodlebug Designs); washi tape

Watercolor and Three Challenges

You might want to put your sunglasses on for this one!  Last weekend was a long one so I had plenty of time to check out some challenges and get crafty.  I made this card on Monday and saved it until today to post.  Since I've been on a bit of a watercolor kick lately it should be no surprise that I tried it again on today's card.

I've got a challenge three-fer going on here since I was inspired by the colors, the watercolor background and the butterfly on Vicki's Muse card as well as the layout of the latest Mojo sketch.  (Incidentally I knew it had been a long time since I joined in the Mojo challenge so I looked it up and September 18th of last year was the last time I played along!  I can't believe it's been nearly a year!  Will work on rectifying that because they've always got terrific sketches).  And finally, the icing on the cake, is the AAA Cards challenge which is, you guessed it, watercoloring!

This card came out much brighter than I thought it would.  I used Melon Mambo and Tangerine Tango to watercolor the bigger layer.  Then I used a lot more water with the same colors to create a softer look on the second layer.  Then while it was still wet I put a stencil over it so that the ink would pool around the pattern of the stencil.  That was a little trick I learned the first day of the watercolor Online Card Class and the look is very cool.  The layered butterfly was created with a bit of the leftover watercolored paper and some black card stock.  I love how the bits of black add some nice contrast to the bright colors.

Well that's it for me.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Words of Wisdom (Verve)

Paper:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Basic Black (SU); Strathmore watercolor paper

Ink:  Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Delaney Butterfly die, Cheviot Butterfly die (Poppystamps); Dot Fade stencil (Tim Holtz); Basic Rhinestones (SU)

Hello Again

I had so much fun making my watercolored bokeh card the other day I decided to make another one.  This time I used the bold colors at Color Throwdown along with the layout at CAS(E) This Sketch.

The Color Throwdown graphic heavily influenced my decision to use this sunflower die which I thought would look pretty nifty against my watercolored background.  Originally I hadn't intended on doing the bokeh thing but once I had the colors down I wanted to soften them up a bit.  First I cut the tilted layer out of vellum (which is hard to see in the photo) but it didn't soften up the colors as much as I wanted so out came the white pigment ink.

Today was a momentous day because I went grocery shopping!  Usually something so mundane is not worthy of a mention in a blog post but if you live in eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire you will have survived the drama of the Market Basket saga which nearly became a Greek tragedy and will know exactly why grocery shopping is cause for celebration!  I won't bore you with the details but suffice it to say that I will never take low prices on groceries for granted ever again!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Hand Lettered Hello (WPlus9)

Paper:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Distress Watercolor (Tim Holtz); Vellum, Old Olive, Pacific Point (SU)

Ink:  Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Pacific Point (SU); Frost White (Colorbox); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Sunflower die, Leaf Filled Flourish die (My Favorite Things)

colourQ 255 and Seize the Sketch 27

It's Tuesday so that means there's a brand new palette at colourQ.  This time around the colors are inspired by this beautiful curtain that would look fantastic in my bathroom!  I'd actually like it better as a shower curtain as I'm not much of a window curtain kind of girl (not to mention my cats would probably think I installed a curtain purely for their entertainment)!  This card is also made using the latest sketch at Seize the Sketch designed by Cathy.  Sadly, Cathy has the dubious honor of presiding over the last challenge at Seize the Sketch.  (Insert sad face here).  

I mentioned last week that I was watching the videos for the watercolor Online Card Class.  Over the weekend I got around to watching some more and was intrigued by the lesson where we learned how to take a stamped image and make it look more like it was watercolored.  After going through all of my stamps twice to find an appropriate image for this similar to the ones used in the video I settled on a little leafy stamp.  Despite being warned that this technique was advanced and required lots of practice I went full steam ahead, made this card, and posted it as if it was the Mona Lisa (a little shot of confidence that I learned from my friend Linda).  Once the leaves were stamped I pounced them with a wet brush, the idea being to soften the edges and spread some of that color around.  Then I went in with my markers and added little dots of color which I then pounced with my wet brush.  

I've got to say that seeing it here doesn't thrill me.  It really does look better in person, but here it looks like I made a card then spilled a glass of water on it.  Blah.  I should have listened to the experts and practiced a bit more before unleashing my supposed creativity on all of you!  Ha!

Of course, you know that the girls at colourQ have got an amazing array of cards to show you using these colors and the girls at Seize the Sketch will also knock your socks off with their cards this week.  Wouldn't it be nice to send Seize the Sketch off with a bang?  I encourage you to play along with our last sketch!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Pocket Silhouettes, It's Your Birthday (SU)

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Old Olive (SU); watercolor paper

Ink:  Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party (SU)

Accessories:  Basic Pearls (SU)

colourQ 254

So I signed up recently for the Watercolor For Card Makers online card class and finally got a chance to watch some of the videos on Sunday.  Of course, now I want to watercolor everything that isn't nailed down and, no surprise, my card today for colourQ features one of the techniques I learned.

I embossed a background stamp first then splashed some colors around using lots of water to create the background layer in a watercolor technique meets emboss resist sort of way.  It was fun to do and fun to just splash some color around without regard to how it landed.  I tend towards clean and simple cards so to give up control of the color is very liberating indeed!

I'm also giving credit to the sketch at Fusion for this card as well as the butterfly challenge at CAS on Sunday.  Nothing like a butterfly to make everything pretty!

It's no surprise that the colourQ design team has made some amazing cards using these colors so make sure you check them out.  We'd love to see you in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Kinda Eclectic (SU); Say What (Mama Elephant); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)

Paper:  Strathmore Watercolor Paper; Early Espresso (SU); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Kiwi Kiss, Coastal Cabana, Pumpkin Pie (SU); Versamark; White (WPlus9)

Accessories:  Basic Pearls (SU)

Watercolor Thanks

I found myself with a little extra time in my stamp room last night and I wanted to try a little watercoloring, something that I don't do very often.  I think I'll take the watercoloring Online Card Class soon so that I can at least learn how to do it properly, but it was fun to swish some color around on my own.  

The colors are from Color Throwdown (although the Tempting Turquoise is so light in the picture you'll have to trust me that it's there) and the layout comes from the Sketchbook Saturday sketch.

I tried to just slap the color on so that it was lighter in some areas than others and I kind of like it, but I need more practice.  It's harder than it looks!  To add a little more interest to the flower I went over the center with a Wink of Stella pen.  It's impossible for me to photograph but it really adds some nice shimmer.

Well, I'm off to the great outdoors.  The sunshine and hot temperature are calling my name!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Hennah Elements (Altenew); The Big, The Bold and You (Winnie & Walter)

Paper:  watercolor paper

Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Strawberry Slush (SU); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)

Create With Connie and Mary 221

Thursday, of course, brings a new fun challenge from Create With Connie and Mary.  This week we've got a  sketch challenge for you.  I've been seeing so many cards lately that have autumn leaves on them (mine included!), that I wanted to go in a completely different direction for my card this week.  I used some summer flowers to remind me that although summer is gone this season, it will be back sooner than ever!

I inked up the beautiful flowers from Pleasant Poppies in Black Stazon on watercolor paper.  Then I grabbed my long-neglected aqua painter and colored them with Calypso Coral and Certainly Celery.  I don't watercolor very often but this stamp set just calls out for it I think.  I lightly dragged some Pool Party around the edges of all the images to highlight them, but it's really difficult to see that in the photo.

I left off a sentiment because this is one of those cards that could be used for a variety of occasions and it's so simple to add the appropriate sentiment when I need to.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Don't forget to head on over to Create With Connie and Mary to check out the inspiration from the design team.  You won't be disappointed!

Paper Players 91 and retro sketches 7

Do you know the phenomena where you learn a new word then suddenly you see this word being used all over the place?  Well, something similar happened to me recently.  On Friday I was describing the process of watercoloring to someone at work.  Well, lo and behold, the challenge this week at The Paper Players (which starts on Sunday) is to create a CAS card with watercoloring!  What are the chances of that?

I, of course, took this to be some kind of cosmic sign and got to work on Sunday creating a card.  The latest retro sketch provided my CAS layout.

I used some of the lovely Twitterpated DSP on my card and stamped the image from Simply Soft in Timber Brown Stazon.  I watercolored the image in Pear Pizzazz, Riding Hood Red and Blushing Bride.  The ribbon is a bit that was in my stash and looked very close to Pear Pizzazz and the button is my LAST Riding Hood Red button from back in the days when that color was just a lowly In Color.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Today is going to be a scorcher in my part of the world.  Normally this is good news because I hate cold weather, but today of all days it's not.  Today is the running of the Boston Marathon and hot weather is not good for the runners.  Hopefully everyone participating in the marathon plays it safe!

See you tomorrow with a very cool colourQ challenge!

Stamping 411 Sketch 234

For some reason I got to thinking about watercoloring yesterday.  I hadn't done any of that in quite some time so I thought I do a little practicing.

I love using the leafy stamp from Growing Green to watercolor.  I colored it with a Wild Wasabi marker then dragged the color around with an aqua painter.  The companion designer paper is from Woodland Walk and the sentiment is from Much Appreciated.  The layout is courtesy of the Stamping 411 sketch challenge.

Now, you might be wondering what is up with that tie-dyed ribbon.  That is an experiment gone awry!  Several months ago I tried to dye a piece of Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon.  I soaked the ribbon in some water that I had added a few drops of Wild Wasabi ink to.  But the ribbon wouldn't take the color and this is what I ended up with.  I'm not sure why, but I saved it and I came across it as I considered what ribbon to use on my card.  It's actually kind of pretty in real life and the colors go perfectly with this card!  That's some serendipity!

Thanks for stopping by!

Growing Green Water Coloring

I thought I'd try my hand at watercoloring again.  There is something about the technique that continues to elude me, but I will keep trying until I get it right.  And for some reason the colors this week at the Just Add Ink challenge reminded me that I hadn't tried it in a while.

For some reason when I saw the Rose Red, I thought of the rose in the Growing Green stamp set.  I'm not sure what the reason is behind that connection, but there you have it!  The Waltzingmouse sketch provided my layout.

One thing I love about the Waltzingmouse sketch is how it is interpreted by everyone.  I see this sketch and see a clean and simple one.  And others take this layout and use it as a jumping point to create beautiful layered designs with ribbons, and bows, and flowers and whatever else they could possibly think of.  I find it an endless source of inspiration!

 
I started out really liking this card.  But it's definitely missing something.  I'm not sure if it's a bow, or a ribbon, or just another flower.  I actually thought about doing another flower, but I was too lazy!  The watercoloring is nice, but it takes quite a bit of time and I just couldn't bring myself to do another flower!  So I decided to go with what I had.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!