Summer Playlist VSN {so far}

Lisa has a challenge to do a classic Rose card. ( the rose background here is unknown and was colored as a Vintage watercolor style)

Melody has a use a cowboy hat on your card challenge.

Kelly has a yellow polka dot bikini challenge

Ann has a challenge based on the lyrics from Oh Summer nights.

Annette has a challenge that is to be jump started from the Nitty gritty dirt band fishing in the dark lyrics.

Jeannette has a challenge to be based off of a hit song from 1968 in which google spit out that sitting on the dock of the bay hit the list that year...

Jen has a challenge to put two animals on it. And the frog and toad image was colored a long time ago with some pencils just messing around so, I used it because, it had two on it haha.

Sharon has a challenge to do one based on the lyrics from Summer in the City.

Susan has a challenge based on the lyrics from the "my Favorite things" Julie Andrews version from the sound of music.

Sue has an endless summer challenge to use one of the Beach Boys songs and so I picked Surfing U.S.A. bushy, bushy blonde hairdo...

this puts me at about half way through the challenges so far that started loading last Friday afternoon. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by { Happy Walls }

This week Amy has us looking inside the Happy Walls pinterest board collection, and I happened across this wall ( seen below) that instantly had me thinking of this Recollections gilded ink paper pad I picked up from Micheals recently.

So really all I did to this was stamp the Visible Image sentiment on the printed paper with some Warm Breeze versafine ink, punched out a couple of the mini heart outline dies from the same gold cardstock as what I used for a mat for it and mounted it to a piece of Bazzill in a similar shade of blue. This finished out at A7 in real life.

the walls, you can find this wall here.

and you can find this challenge here at SplitCoastStampers to play along with us,

Thanks for stopping by.

Paws

There is a "Paws" challenge for the Clean and Simple one at SCS this week and when I read that I knew I had these Simon Says Stamp paw dies that had never been cut, so I cut them from some strathmore watercolor paper and then grabbed the Memory Box Neighborly Cats and cut some of those too.

They were all colored with a couple of water based markers. The one on the right here is up on foam pop dots and I had the diecuts taped together on the backside before I colored the paw so, the feathering went into the negative part of the die and I had intended to paint it too but, then I said to my self if you add color to that, it takes away from the clean and simple part so, I left it as is.

Each of the sentiments on these are from the My Favorite Things set called new best friend stamped with some Versafine clair nocturn ink and all but the one on the left in this shot are on smooth Neenah solar white. the one in the left bottom photo base is some Royal Sundance felt natural white cardstock. ( so it has a similar texture to it as watercolor paper but, not as thick) These are all 3" X 3" in real life. and now that they are all stamped off and glue together means I can finish cleaning off my table haha. thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW # 577 {paws & things}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

A long view of the last thing I had worked on was some Simon Says Stamp paws diecuts on watercolor paper as the clean and simple challenge this week at SCS was "paws" ( this is as far as I got with it) its really hot here for this time of year and this space is more like finished attic space than a real room so, on a day I go to work by the time I get home even with all the fans going and the window AC on its too hot to play.

Farther to the left of the center is some of the things that were made recently ( lets say the last few weeks or so and this was as far as those piles got) The top watercolor piece is missing some "eggs" from a featured stamper card I did on Sunday and since I have not blogged about that yet, I will stick it below the desk mess shots.

The center. the cats were done just because, I am leaning towards making 4 little 3X3 cards very CAS with these paws and cats but, I have to find (smaller) sentiments to fit and I'd rather have snarky funny ones so, it may be another day or two before these are finished. the markers are out because, the card below I cut two of the layered robin dies and only made one so far. ( so that combo of red,orange & brown is the colors I used for the red on the card below) The gold hearts are fails of what went onto a sample for this coming week's IC that I wanted a small gold heart on.

The Robin was colored with markers & and water brush and the eggs are an Oxide distress background that was water colored using a plastic baggie to move the ink from the glass mat to the paper. ( I didn't really think of a stamp that I thought would look good on this piece ( see above) so I set it aside. ( it was the first Watercolor Wednesday challenge attempt) It called for using acetate to move the ink and I think that may have been a little better because, that is not a smooth thing like a baggie but, what I really didn't like about it when it was dry was how much purple I got into it haha.

The finished card, this is a link that goes to the card from Patti that I used as a jump start for mine.  There is some vintage photo oxide on the edges of the front card base and nest, and the bird and sentiment are up on foam pop dots on this.

That's about it from me, they have ramped up testing where I live so the ice sales are crazy right now and I will spend 3 of 4 weeks a month instead of every other week, on the road fetching it now as a normal thing for the next little while. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Tree's

There is a new daily challenge at Splitcoaststampers on Wednesdays featuring water coloring projects. and the very first one ( 3 weeks ago now) was to use acetate to pick up color from ink pads in puddles and apply to backgrounds and somewhere in there I had also received the new Speckled egg distress Oxide pad so, I used it with (some blue I have since forgotten) and set it aside.

The theme on this third week is to do an unexpected color and so today the top pieces Memory Box Pine forest frame die was water colored with some Mission Gold watercolors ( green, blue & orange) which is not a combo I would normally pick for tree's and ( I watered down the colors a lot) I really like this. I kind of laughed when it all dried and I realized I almost duplicated the colors from the ink pads. shrugs, I like these colors.  The ric rac is vintage and the card base is a premade one in a pack of rainbow of colors with envelopes.

A closer look at the tree's. they are up on foam pop dots.

You can find these challenges here and here ( week's 1 & 3) and there are video tutorials in the challenge threads which is really handy. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Children's Book Illustrations }

This week we are looking at a collection of Children's book illustrations gathered together here on their pinterest boards. I just love every single detail of the art ( seen below) that I used as a color/theme jump start for this card.

The flying dragon is from the My Favorite things set called magical dragons stamped with some Versafine Clair twilight ink on Strathmore watercolor paper. I used some Daniel Smith watercolors on it and the background and then when the paint was dry I went over the toenails and nostrils with a Tombo marker. The sentiment is from the Mama Elephant birthday messages set stamped in Nocturn ink and that fiber is an old one from the now retired fibers by the yard store. I loved the little bits of silver entwined with it so, I added some clear wink of stella on the wings and back scales of the dragon.

A closer look at the dragon, I did not get it tilted right to catch the glimmers from the wink of stella.

This piece of Art is titled the snow dragon by Chris Fisher and you can find it here on their pinterest board. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us, thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW # 576 { coloring }

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

So, this is my very first post on the new style blogger from a PC and the other day I got really lucky because, Lydia replied to a thread I started at SCS that the Orange plus dot that seems to hover over the list of blog posts on the dash board is the make a new post button. ( I spent so much time clicking around looking for this it was not even funny) ( I had expected it to be a button with words ha ha)

So far so good, the photo went in pretty easily and all the hypertext link shortcut buttons are larger. ( which is really handy when you are doing this on your first cup of joe with no glasses on) ;)

at any rate the dogs had a spa day at the groomers yesterday so, I had a couple of hours to my self after work and I started puttering around coloring this dragon with some Daniel Smith watercolor dots.

the cases of covid 19 where I live are on the uptick again so, I am halfway expecting things to be shut back down soon but, who knows. I did play with one of those leaf stamps I showed you last week and it can be seen here in the post below this one. That's about it from me, I hope you are all doing well. Thanks for stopping by.

Survivor

Today when I came up the stairs to play I had found that I am on my last round of stamped/laminate sheets of rubber stamps to put away and I get to just play again. the organizing that has taken up too much of my thought process is much better. 

So, I looked at the featured stamper challenge and this week it is Trudy and I came across this card of hers that instantly made me think of this ginkgo branch from Beeswax stamps that just came in the mail to me ( shape wise) and since it is a "new" stamp it and that Riley & co. sentiment fit the bill for this week's ways to use it ( use an unused stamp) and the watercolor Wednesday challenge was to watercolor with your ink pads. so, its a Three-for. 

 

 The strathmore watercolor paper has a wash done from an old SU soft sky dye ink pad and that was over stamped with the image and sentiment with some Versafine Clair rain forest ink. When it was mostly dried I used two Distress Oxide pads to watercolor the leaves with an aqua brush. ( crushed pistachio & pine needles to watercolor the leaves.

a closer look at the leaves, you can "almost" see the soft sky background. other changes to Trudy's card is instead of a cardstock mat I ended up cutting the watercolor panel with a Waffle flower lacy square die ( stitched edging) and put that panel up on some foam 3M tape. The mat piece is some printed Memory box paper from a Mistletoe pack and the base is fake bazzill. This one is 6" square in real life. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Kawaii Pen Shop}

This week Angie has shared with us a fun little Japanese pen and stationary site for inspiration hunting. and I ended up being stuck in my tracks by this constellation pencil roll.

Before I made this I really thought I had a constellations background that looked more like the roll but, if I do it is hiding. I did try stamping this reverse constellations background from Hero Arts with some linen pigment ink but, it did not have enough contrast to show the pattern so, it was stamped with some Versafine on Neenah and then the Concord & 9th (city stacks set) sentiment was popped up on foam pop dots over the May Arts crochet ribbon. the bitty silver star is a beading jewelry spacer. This one finished out at A6 in real life.

The pencil roll can be seen here in their site and you can find this challenge here  at SCS to play along with us. thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW # 575 {new stamps}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 So a week or so ago I did a search on Amazon for a maidenhair fern stamp, and surprise they actually had one being sold by a co. called Beeswax stamps but, it was on a wood block so, I decided to google them and see if they were still making stamps and such and I found that they are. and you can get the rubber all three ways, blank, with cling foam or with a wood block. so, I ended up poking around in the site and found a few more leaves and some stepping stones to toss in the cart with it but, the fun thing for me was it was shipped in this tiny little box. ( its really cute) and I guess I have gotten used to things arriving in padded envelopes because, the box tickled me almost as much as the stamps do.

 I am "this close" to being done with sorting those stamps I have been unmounting the last few years and this weekend I did not feel like cutting up those last few sheets yet but, I did make some divider cards ( laminated soft seafoam cardstocks) and this was two packs plus of it so, I will need to buy some more sooner or later. ( I love this color it is nearly a match for Johnson's brothers greendawn china) 

at any rate I am feeling pretty good about this, moved the desk I color at into that same corner tucked behind the wall that the stairs are on and moved an tiny book shelf that holds suitcases with completed cards in it back to the other tucked in side of the table I stamp on.  Which is right at the top of the stairs, so if I were to sit in that chair with it pulled out there you bet everyone wanted to come up and down the stairs So, I am hoping this will be a little more peaceful out of the traffic path. I did make one card with some of those Eucalyptus leaves and it can be seen here. That's about it from me, hope you are all doing well & thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by { Design Pool}

This week Julie has shared with us links to Design Pool's Pinterest boards, and the rabbit hole is very deep there. I ended up staring at this shot of leaves for a while knowing that I have lots of new leaf dies and stamps that have been waiting for me to play with them.

So, the second leaf shot I spent a lot of time looking at was this one with the succulents thinking in the back of my mind that eucalyptus leaves might have pink on the edges. and I got them a little too pink so, I went back over the leaves with more greens a few times trying to tone that down a little. The paper rose stitched eucalyptus branch dies were water colored with some Mission Gold watercolors. The edging and mat dies are also new to me ones from Pink Fresh studios from their slimline card line. ( this card finished out at 4" x 9" and so those mats fit inside that.) the Sentiment here is from the My Favorite Things Sassy pants birthday greetings 2 set. This was heat embossed with some WOW fine detail gold powder on a pale green scrap and diecut with an Waffle Flower A7 rectangle die. The stripe print paper is an old one from Basic Grey and the mat piece under that was some fake bazzill ( thin, really thin ) that I had taken a dry brush and some white acrylic paint to it for texture. You can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us, thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW #574 {eucalyptus leaves}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 

 

  Good Morning a while back I had picked up these paper rose stitched Eucalyptus branches dies and I cut some from watercolor paper and started adding some paint to them after work. It's nice to have some daylight at the end of the day too still in my mind. I had it in my head that they were going to have hints of pink on the edges of the leaves like succulents do and then when that dried I thought ooh too much pink then I went over the tops of the leaves with greens ( a few times) so, there are still hints of pink but, they are more on the hint side now than the in your face color. 

I will use these but, I am thinking I got the colors a little too dark. so, maybe next time. I have seen people paint them translucent looking like skeleton leaves and my skill level is not in that caliber yet. :). It's nice to just have a few moments to breath and let go too. I hope you all are doing well.

I will be driving all day for work today as now the vector control is also picking up ice for the season. 

( they test mosquitoes among other things) 

Thanks for stopping by.

Simple gift boxes

 A while back I picked up this Spellbinders simple gift box die set because, it looked a little like a purse to me. And then I cut two of the largest piece and one of the second largest piece and I could not for the life of me figure out what that second piece was supposed to do. I really had to watch a youtube video of someone assembling this die set to make a purse to have the Ah-Ha moment to make it work. ( You need two of that piece too) ( see below)

 The second sized die ends up being one half of the "gift" box that hides between the purse shaped front and back. (and I never found any photographs of the side of this anywhere so, here ya go)

 I did end up covering the little circle dies with buttons and used clear velcro to close the flaps.

 These little tags are also part of the set.

And these are headed to the booth next November at the school. Although these are tagged as gift card holders I think they may not actually be big enough to hold a gift card, maybe a tube of chapstick or small hard candy or folded cash maybe earrings type of a thing. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.