Inspired by {Whistlefish}

 This week Denise has shared the Whistlefish site and Pinterest boards. But, I happened across these blue leaves in her write of of the challenge and it stayed stuck in my head until it was time to make something so, out came this old Penny Black leaf spray stamp

That I stamped on some Arches 100% cotton cold press watercolor paper with Adirondack stream ink and then added Daniel Smith watercolors over the top of that. 

I had used this Reverse Confetti stitched square die last weekend so, it was still out when the leaves were dry and I decided it would be a subtle edge. The base here is some textured Bazzill and this one is 6" square in real life. And also much more vibrant. I am liking how this turned out, I never would have made leaves blue if I had not seen that shot offered up so, its a fun thing when you do something unexpected and you like it. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring an Orange

 This week Linda has shared this tutorial from Nikki Hess seen here on YouTube to make an orange circle have some depth to look like an loose orange fruit. I did watch the video all the way through before starting and I knew I have not spent much time doing circular strokes so, I grabbed the notebook pad and decided to use it.

Not really wanting to sketch the circle I just winged it with a paint brush. ( this is an Strathmore 500 series travel pad) which is supposed to be cotton but, its not the same quality of cotton as Arches, so I feel better about practicing on it than on 400 series Strathmore student papers. 

next layer of paints and keep in mind these photos are cropped so, I actually could see the detailing better after I had shot the snap shots with my cell phone, cropped them and uploaded them to a computer screen.

Which is when I decided I did not like that line near the top third of the circle so, more paint and water came out right after this was shot.

 next round of paints 

I did add a smidge of green to that orange in a couple of spots but, the orange over powered it and you really can't see it.

At this point I decided I really don't like this scrubbing in circles motion and I just wanted it to be done ( and not have such lines. but, I know that part of that is this paper. 

Added a shadow and a little more orange to the very bottom edge. I did not let it dry completely from the last layer so, this is where I stopped. not so sure it looks like a fruit orange but, I have a hard time with "loose" most of the time :) That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Western Stamps

 Last weekend when I started Mancell's birthday card I also got out you know some of the other western stamps I have and I stamped off a pile and started painting them off and on this week after I finished his card. 

This is cowboy Ralph from Rubbernecker stamped on some Arches cold press 100% cotton watercolor paper and painted with Daniel Smith paints ( same for the cards below) That sentiment here is also from Rubbernecker and I cut it out with an MFT stitched dome die. Ralph was cut with a Studio Katia darling ribbon & Dotted frames die. The printed paper for the wall is an old one from Basic Grey. I thought it looked like wall paper. The natural hemp string was tied in a knot and just tucked in around behind the papers. I had originally thought to use a tie and knot and hang on sentiment with him but, ended up going this was because, it struck me funnier. This one finished out at 6" square in real life.

This couple, I do not know their names but, they are retired from Art Impressions. I did stamp them, the hay bales on Arches cold press and used DS paints on them. They were all cut with scissors and some have pop dots under them. That sentiment is also from Art Impressions stamped on some Neenah earthstone. It actually looks like a fairly close enough match with the watercolor paper not being exactly white or cream kwim? The dance floor was cut from some Kraft cs from SU with a Penny Black wood floors die and then I did use ds paints on it. and it was a little too narrow for the square shaped card so, I picked up the drop piece and glued it to the bottom and just added in more of the same colors of paints to it also but, it left me with this odd blank space to the left so, I started stamping off bales of hay and cutting them out, I am thinking I should have done one more and cut in half so, it looked like it stacked out of the scene to both the left and up on the right of these but, I will probably leave this as it is. That horse shoe print is really old from Flair. 

Which leads me to the third one I finished. I have not done 3 cards on a weekend in a long time and none of them were for samples for something else so, that was fun. I still have a few more on the table so, if I get another done this afternoon I may just edit this post. Carrie is from Rubber Romance and it always strikes me funny that her leg is in there air. So, over the years I have looked for things to perch her foot on. I did pick up this buried wagon wheel from Commotion stamps on ebay a month or two ago just to see if it would fit scale wise with her. not knowing if it would work. I did stamp it on a scrap and cut it out, and decided that was "OK" it just added more depth to the scene but, I think I may cave and buy a kitchen table or a barrel stamp to try someday down the road. That panel was cut with crealies cross stitched square die and the corners have vintage lace wrapped around them. That red dot print is unknown and the brown tiny dot print is from My Minds Eye. this one the base is some white washed coordinations in a picket fence color that its kinda tan on the flip side. The sentiment here is that same one from Rubbernecker. That's about it from me, its been raining quite a bit here this weekend so, I am playing in my studio while moving the laundry around. thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {A Beautiful Mess}

 This week Kia has shared this A Beautiful Mess site where I came across this whole family dressed as Cowboys from the Toy Story cartoon. and I was off and running digging out a bunch of my Cowboy stuff to play with. Now, I actually have a woody stamp ( of course right?) but, its a tiny little stamp in reality and I needed a card for Hubs hunting buddy who turned 74 yesterday. 

So, I started to narrow it down to Slim ( he's retired from Art Impressions but, I still see him go up for sale on eBay fairly often) He was stamped with some Versafine morning mist on Arches cold press watercolor and I started layering on Daniel Smith paints.

After a few more layers of Paints I decided to cut some my minds eye printed paper (the darker brown here) with an Penny Black full bloom stitched die, it kind of sorta had this look to the "stitch" that made me think western. I picked out this really snarky Riley & Co. sentiment for the front. ( he has has more than his share of misfortunes the last couple of years) and then diecut that with an old Spellbinders labels die. there were holes poked for the orange brads to go through. That wood grain print I think is also from My Minds Eye. The sheet off to the right was glued to the inside and those tiny pistol charms were found at Hobby Lobby last weekend. ( they are in the Jewelry beading isle) 

I think scale wise it does fit him but, in hind sight I wish I had figured out a way to cut off the loop and maybe cut a slit into the design so that the barrel is behind the image and only the handle peeks out of that.

But all in all its not too bad for a first attempt at this.  I did try to keep some of the leathers and wood grains on the yellow tinted side as Woody has a lot of Happy Yellow in his shirt, and that color just jumps out at me every time I see him. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring a Daisy

 This week Brenda has shared this Daisy painting tutorial seen here on YouTube by Karen Rice art. 

So I sketched a rough single daisy with an Water soluble pencil on some Arches cold press.

Then I layered a wash of colors to the background and sprinkled on some table salt.

When that was dry more paint went onto the flower parts, I was not real impressed with how the background dried towards the bottom nor with the stem and leaves so, I did add more paints to this a few more times. I felt like the background closest to the bloom I should have done much darker, I knew it would dry paler but, I think for shadows and a little pop I should have done more of the dark dark green closer to the bloom.

So I did add in more shadows under the petals and along the top edge of the flower also. Along with some yellow splatters but, those really faded in. When that dried I cut this with an Penny Black Zig Zag stitched rectangle die with more of the top background showing than the bottom. I "almost" added in some more greenery to the bottom but decided to leave it looking more like what was shown. ( I almost added more white spots to the background to be the rest of the Daisy flowers but, managed to rein in that thought)

The painted panel is up on foam tape here on some Stampin' Up Dijon cardstock. I left off a sentiment as I am not sure what I will do with this as of yet. If you'd like to play along with us, you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {On Sutton Place}

 This week Julie has chosen the On Sutton Place site and collection of Pinterest boards where I came across this Farmhouse scene with a pitcher of blooming vases and I started to grin because, earlier in the week Kia had chosen a paint a blooming cherry branch tutorial which you can find here. So, out came some more cold press Arches Watercolor paper that I cut with the Lawn Fawn Canvas & Easel dies set.

So, I used the last painting I did for the Watercolor challenge as the inspiration for the smaller scaled bloom branch that fit onto the lawn fawn diecut. The stool and easel started to get layers of paints to give them a rustic vibe. 

More paints layered on.

I had originally wanted to place the canvas of blooms on the easel but, it covers it up a lot and I liked how the colors dried as so, I cut some printed paper that picked up those colors to use as a "rug" in the scene with all those white washed boards on the background print. The Painting and the easel are up on foam pop dots. 

The sentiment from the Stampin' Up feels like home set was stamped with some Versafine Crimson red and diecut with an Stitched MFT square die. The base is some textured pink from Bazzill cut to 6" square in real life. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.